The Decent One
by Tie-dyed-julia
Summary: Reagan Hammond is an orphaned half-blood living with his Aunt, Uncle and twin cousins Shea and Siobhan. With the two of them having already established themselves by their 4th year, will Reagan be seen as 'just another Hammond' as he starts his career at Hogwarts, or will the friends he make see him as separate from them? Next Generation, OC-based story with Canon for support.
1. Welcome To Hogwarts

**A/N: This chapter is edited as of 5/25/15. **

**Found a discrepancy in time, Shea in Siobhan are in their fourth year, not their third.**

**Please note that when I refer to Seamus, I am not referring to Seamus Finnigan, but my own character Shea whose birth name is Seamus.  
**

**Also, I wrote Victoire as being just one year younger than Teddy, instead of two.**

* * *

"So, what House d'you think you'll end up in, Reagan?" a girl asked a younger boy as she walked with him, her father, and her twin brother. Her red curls bounced as she strode along King's Cross Station, pushing a trolley with a curious assortment of items. The boy was shorter than the others, freckle-faced and pudgy; a sharp contrast to the taller, more slender twins who were a couple years older.

He shrugged. He had turned eleven in the past October, and on that day he received a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry saying he was now eligible to start his first term, on the first of September. The day now arriving, the young boy and his family had spent the previous few days in London after coming in from Belfast, before they were to board the train at eleven in the morning.

"M'not too sure, Siobhan, I don't think I'm smart enough to be in Ravenclaw with you," he said to the girl, glancing over to her for a moment before concentrating on steering his own trolley straight, a faraway look in his deep blue eyes as he looked forward and continued speaking, "but I hope I at least get into Gryffindor with Shea."

A nasty smirk showed on the lanky, shaggy haired boy's face as his name was said, and he leaned over to stare his younger cousin down. "Aw, shucks, Ray, it almost sounds like you're sayin' you'd rather be with me than Siobhan, how _mean _of you to say it right to her face," he put on a look of disappointment and shook his head. "I'm _very _disappointed in you, laddy."

Reagan's smile dropped as he looked at his feet, brightly colored with embarrassment at being scolded, even though he knew deep down that the older boy was joking. He'd never in a million years want to let down the family that took him in when no other family wanted to.

"Seamus, quit picking on your cousin," his father said sternly to him, then clapping his nephew on his shoulder and giving him a reassuring smile, sensing his unease. "Wherever you end up is where you're meant to be, and that's alright, Reagan."

Reagan looked up to his uncle and smiled back at him. "Thank you, Uncle Neil."

"Ah, here we are." Siobhan called up in front of them. She'd found their platform. Or rather, found the space between two _other _platforms, from the look of it. "Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. This platform still gives me the heeby-jeebies..." Siobhan said with a shudder. "Always think I'm going to smack head-first into it. I expect anyone watching would think that as well."

"Eh, nuts to what they think," Shea said, carefully avoiding swearing around his father. "_I_ think it's brilliant."

"'Right then, both of you go through, show Reagan how it's done," Neil said, gesturing to the brick wall they were standing by. Reagan didn't know exactly why they'd have to 'show him how it was done', he'd seen them do it already. Siobhan and Shea were both in their fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, after all, and the journey onto the platform was an annual one since they both started.

Siobhan went first, trying to make it look to any passersby (if they actually watched) as casual as possible; simply leaning against the wall with her trolley, before both she and the trolley fell through the mock facade. Her twin, however, opted instead to push his own trolley at full-speed, then ride through the wall on the bottom bars.

Neil heaved a sigh. "That's going to be a mess. You can go at a run, Reagan, but don't try to ride though. It always ends in disaster," he said, smiling in spite of himself. "I'd know, it did it myself when I was just your age.

Reagan stared at the wall in front of him now, and took a deep breath and exhaled to try and keep the mounting nerves at bay. He _just _saw his cousins vanish through the wall, why was he so worried? Perhaps it wasn't the wall he was worried about, but everything beyond it. All the same, Reagan closed his eyes and ran through the wall.

* * *

The view of Platform Nine and Three-Quarters was amazing once he opened his eyes. The Hogwarts Express was a bright scarlet color, gleaming in the sunlight as smoke billowed from the stacks, and the engine rumbled as students prepared to board.

Young wizards and their families were scattered around the platform; all chattering excitedly or having their teary good-byes, smothering their children with hugs and kisses, or asking them whether they remembered to pack everything before they came and reminding them _'you wouldn't want an owl to come with a package containing underwear because you forgot to pack yours.'_

Reagan was distracted suddenly from the scene when he heard his cousin's shrill voice. "Ugh, you just _had _to do it, didn't you, Shea?" she yelled as she picked up the luggage that had been knocked over by Shea. "Dad _warned you _about it _last year _but you still did it? _Wipe that look off your face!"_

Reagan went to help Siobhan pick up her things, if only to stop her tirade on her twin brother. He looked at one of the books that got scattered around, a copy of _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them._ "Is that yours?"

Siobhan shook her head, picking the book up. "No, it's Shea's. I have my books tucked away in my bag, I wouldn't leave 'em out so they get all battered." she said as she threw Shea a pointed look.

Shea rolled his eyes and took the book from Siobhan. "You have your way of packing, I have mine. How 'bout you quit b-"

"If you know what's good for you, you won't finish that sentence." Neil said suddenly as he came through the wall. "Help your sister pick up."

Shea glared daggers at his father for a few moments-not daring to say a thing-before stooping down to help pick up his sister's things as well as his own.

Neil knelt down to his nephew with a smile, holding his arms out wide as an invitation for a hug; which Reagan gladly accepted with a smile of his own as he wrapped his arms around his uncle's neck. He was really going to miss the safety of having his father-figure with him.

"Make sure to write plenty, you hear? I want to hear all about your first day. I made sure to tell your cousins to hassle you if you don't write home," Neil said as he pulled away with a teasing grin, which Reagan mimicked.

"Alright, Uncle Neil, I promise to write as soon as I can," he replied.

The train's whistle pierced the sounds of the chattering crowd, signaling that it was time for everyone to wrap up their good-byes and hurry onto the train. Children pushed their trolleys close to the train, and started bringing all of their stuff in with the help of their families. Before too long the train was off, parents and other relations waving the train off and calling out their good-byes again while the children waved through the windows before dispersing to find seats.

Reagan waved good-bye to his uncle one last time, with Siobhan and Shea also waving over his shoulders, before they both separated to find their peers, leaving Reagan to find his own crowd.

As Shea darted off to find his Gryffindor mates and Siobhan went to find the nice Hufflepuff boy she fancied so she could run into him 'accidentally' to start a conversation, Reagan glumly slouched down the hall, trying to find a compartment that wasn't crammed tightly with students, or reserved for certain groups (He accidentally popped by the Prefects' Cabin for a moment. Whoops!).

At last, Reagan stopped at a compartment half-way down the train that only had one other student in it, shaggy blond head buried in a book called _Quidditch Through The Ages_. "Ehm... excuse me? Can I come in?" Reagan asked, leaning against his luggage.

The blond looked at him, putting away his bookmark and snapping the book shut, giving Reagan a warm smile. "Sure, come on in. Need a hand with your luggage? Just hand the stuff over to me, I'll get it sorted."

Reagan gave him a smile in return. "That'd be nice, thanks..." He said, then started handing over his things that he wanted up and out of the way.

"What's your name, by the way?" The blond asked as he took one of Reagan's bags.

"Oh... name's Reagan," he said, looking up at him. He was now standing on the seat to stow Reagan's things on the bar overhead. "Reagan Hammond."

The blond looked over at him, wide-eyed with eyebrows raised. "Really, so you're the Hammond twins' brother? Didn't know they had one, just thought it was the two of 'em," The boy said, clearly having heard of Reagan's two cousins already. He was afraid of this. He didn't think he'd have to walk in his family's footsteps _already._

"Err... no. Their cousin, actually. I've been living with them for a while," Reagan replied uncomfortably, taking his last bag and sitting down across from the blonde who just plopped down onto his seat.

The other boy's expression changed to one of confusion, tilting his head. "Why's that, Ray?" The boy asked, then added as an after-thought, "S'okay if I call you Ray, right?"

"Yeah, it's fine," Reagan replied. "Everyone calls me that anyway. … What's _your _name?" He added quickly, dodging the first question and hoping he forgot.

"Oh, my name's Lukas! Lukas Gallagher! But you can call me Luke, if you want to!" The blond said, beaming and sticking his hand out for Reagan to shake, which he did with a grin.

"Nice to meet you then, Luke," Reagan said, then letting go of the boy's hand.

"So what House do you think you'll end up in, Ray?" Lukas asked, crossing his legs on the seat. "Personally, I'm hoping for Gryffindor like my brother. He's a sixth year."

Reagan pondered for a few moments, scratching his head and then shrugging, "I'm not really sure," He said. "I don't see a problem with any of them, if I'm honest."

Lukas' eyebrows shot up again, "Really?!" He said. "Even Slytherin? They're usually pretty nasty, aren't they?"

Reagan shrugged again. "Jus' because people were bad in the past doesn't mean others will continue t'be in the future. Someone breaks the mold eventually."

Lukas lowered his eyebrows and furrowed them together in thought, "I guess that's true... never really thought of it that way before. Haven't really heard of a nice Slytherin, though. Even _after _the second war ended."

"I'm sure they aren't _all _that bad if you give 'em a chance."

Lukas suddenly grinned and gave a snort. "You probably won't end up in Gryffindor, then, the two houses have a nasty rivalry. Probably have the worst rivalries as far as houses go."

Reagan's eyebrows went up. Sure, he knew the Quidditch teams of both the houses had a rivalry, but he didn't know it was a rivalry shared throughout the whole of the houses. "Really, they do? Every one of the students?"

"As far as I know, yeah. Haven't really heard of any Gryffindors genuinely getting along with a Slytherin," Lukas scratched his head, thinking. "Of course, I think Professors McGonagall and Slughorn get on well enough, but they're, well… _old, _y'know?"

Reagan nodded, then looked out the window at the scenery going by. It was starting to get distinctly less tidy as the train rolled by; the soft green hills they passed before were replaced with higher territory and untidy, rocky plains.

A silence fell between the two boys, and Lukas seemed to dislike it, as he started babbling breathlessly. "So! What are you most excited for at Hogwarts? I hear that the food there is supposed to be amazing! There's gonna be a feast right after the Sorting!"

"Oh, yeah, I heard about the feast... that should be pretty exciting, but I'm pretty excited to jus' get started learnin' magic."

"You mean you haven't learned anything yet?"

Reagan shook his head. "Not much, really. I live in a Muggle community, Uncle Neil says it's not a very good idea to do magic in an area like that," He gave a small smile. "Me auntie gets pretty upset if Shea and Siobhan do magic around the house, I guess I'd see why, seein' as-"

Lukas interrupted so quickly it was almost like he'd explode if he didn't start talking again. "Really, a Muggle community? What're Muggles like? I haven't met any!"

Reagan was a little caught off-guard by the sudden interruption, but answered calmly anyway, "Well... as I was about to say, me auntie's a Muggle. I say she's pretty nice, even if she is a bit strict. Most'a the people I've met are nice enough, even Shea's friends are too. I haven't really seen enough wizards to tell you that Muggles are better than wizards or the other way around, doesn't seem fair to judge a bunch of people if you don't know 'em. I'm a half-blood, myself, I think, so it'd be a little harsh of me to judge, either way."

"Wait, did you say _you think? _You don't know?"

Reagan flushed a little in embarrassment, he didn't mean to sound uncertain, but he never _did _know his father, and he had no clue if his brother knew anything about him either. Wherever _he _was. "Err... I … don't really know, no."

"Huh… well, it doesn't really matter anyway, so it's fine!" Lukas said, flashing a grin, then noticing the train had come to a stop. "But hey, I think we've just pulled into the station just now!"

Reagan looked out the window, to see Lukas was right. They had just pulled into Hogsmeade station. Reagan realized how close to the castle they were and was now starting to feel slightly nauseous because of nerves. Lukas may have been a bit more inquisitive than Reagan liked, but talking with him at least kept him distracted from the feeling. He wondered if Lukas was feeling the same. "Hey Luke?" He asked.

"Yeah?" Lukas replied.

Reagan thought over what he'd say to him. _Hey Lukas, do you feel like you're gonna hurl, or is that just me? Oh? It is? Alright, then. See you at classes, I guess. _That wasn't exactly a good way to ask, but he couldn't think of anything else. "Err... _thanks. _Thanks for helping me out and talking to me, I was feeling really nervous."

Lukas suddenly grinned at him, "Do you feel like you're gonna hurl, too?"

Reagan looked slightly embarrassed, but was relieved that Lukas revealed before he did. "Yeah, I do," he said.

Reagan was about to get down his luggage, when he looked out and saw that none of the other kids were carrying theirs. "Shouldn't they-"

"Oh! No, it's fine. Some witch said to leave the luggage on the train a few minutes ago, I think someone else is taking it up," Lukas said, trying to push his way into the crowd of first-years that were trying to get through the door and onto the platform.

Reagan was a little apprehensive, but went to go join Lukas in the crowd anyway. He evidently wasn't watching where he was going, because he accidentally crushed the foot of another first year who had been aggressively shoving through the crowd, trying to get to the front.

"Ouch! Watch where you step with those giant feet, dimwit!" The boy said as he turned his head to him, giving him a nasty scowl. The boy was pale, with green eyes that flashed with anger. He had brown hair in loose curls that bobbed as he swiveled his head to look at Reagan.

"Err... sorry, I didn't mean'ta, I was just tryin' to get into the hall to meet up with-" Reagan said, muttering to his shoes, avoiding the other boy's glare.

"Yeah, that's right, you _better _be sorry," The boy interrupted, then went on his way shoving through the crowd.

Reagan stood still for a few more moments to let more people pass, he felt it was best if he didn't make any more enemies. Lukas was already far ahead by now, there was no point in trying to catch up. He'd just meet him at the castle.

"Firs' years over here! Firs' years!" He heard a great, booming voice of a man calling once he finally set foot onto the platform. He looked around for the voice and he saw a large man, _really _large man, whose shape seemed to take up most of the sky that was deepening into a dark purple. He had a lantern in his large hands, and was looking around at all the young students; possibly to get a headcount. _That must be Hagrid, _Reagan thought. Hagrid was one of Shea's favorite teachers. Which was an achievement by itself, because as far as Reagan could tell, Shea wasn't all that fond of any sort of authority.

Reagan hurried his way over to the crowd of first-years, the nervous feeling in his stomach coming up again. He was glad at that moment he didn't get any candy off the trolley in the train, he would've thrown it all up by now.

"Righ' then, follow me!" Hagrid called as all the children gathered around him. He then led them all down a steep path through thick trees.

"Nervous?" Asked the boy walking beside him, wearing a smirk. Reagan wasn't sure what gave him away, the shaky way he was moving, or the fact that his eyes were just staring ahead, wide open. Reagan looked over to the boy, whose smirk faltered considerably as his green eyes met Reagan's blue that were still wide open, making him look like a deer in the headlights.

"A bit, yeah," Reagan said, furrowing his brows. What he said was an understatement, as nerves were about the only thing he felt the whole day since he woke up. His brows furrowed a little more as he swore he saw the boy's messy hair change color from dark brown to a slightly greenish color.

The other boy evidently noticed that Reagan was staring at him, because he gave Reagan a weird look, scrunching up his nose and squinting. Reagan swore his hair changed color again. "Did your hair just-" Reagan started to ask, when the other boy cut him off.

_"Yes," _He said, running a hand through his hair. "It just changed color. I haven't got much of a handle on my abilities, so it does that subconsciously."

"_Abilities?" _Reagan asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I'm a metamorphmagus, I can change appearance at will," The boy whispered, and crossed his arms. "Or _should be. _Can't really control it now, mostly my hair just changes color depending on my mood, I think."

Reagan raised both eyebrows, "Like a mood ring?" He asked.

"What's that?"

"It's a kind of Muggle thing you wear and it's supposed to change color depending on your mood. Sounds rubbish to me, though. Shea breathed on one while he was wearin' it, and it said he was angry."

The other boy snorted, and his smirk returned in full effect. "Think I'd be angry if I was getting breathed on."

Reagan laughed a little, feeling slightly less nervous now. "Yeah, I think I'd be pretty ticked as well. 'Specially if it was Shea, he's got serious dog breath," He said, scrunching his nose at the thought of Shea's bad breath. Thinking it a bit rude to be chatting his ear off without the boy at least knowing his name, he introduced himself. "Ehm, my name's Reagan Hammond. What's yours?"

The boy grinned at him, sticking out his hand. Evidently the two boys that he'd officially met were a lot more used to introductions. "Name's Teddy Lupin. You related to that nutter who came into Platform Nine and Three Quarters riding his trolley? Thought I saw you helping him up and helping the other redhead pick up that mess."

Reagan nodded. "Yeah, that was Shea. Thought Siobhan was gonna hex 'im on the spot, she looked so mad."

Hagrid stopped at last at the shore of a large body of water that was reflecting the dark sky above, and the children behind him also stopped, gaping at the castle rising high above it.

Both Reagan and Teddy knocked into a couple kids who stopped in front of them. Both of them swiveled their heads around to glare at them. Reagan and Teddy both uttered a quiet "Sorry", and they looked back, shaking their heads.

"Alrigh', everyone in the boats!" Hagrid called back to the children, ushering to the many boats that were on the shore. "No more'n four in a boat, y'hear?" He said, watching as the as the first-years filed into boats.

Reagan got in a boat with Teddy, a short and stocky boy called Ashley Crosby, and a taller boy with a wide nose and unruly copper hair called Morgan Gladwine. The two seemed to be best friends already by the familiar way they were talking to each other.

He looked around for any sign of Lukas and saw him four boats over, waving and grinning, sharing a boat with a chubby blonde boy and girl who had just looked up from chattering with Lukas. The other was boy in the boat was scrawny, with deep tan skin and pair of glasses that were slightly too big and sliding down his nose. He seemed rather unhappy with the noise, his arms crossed over his chest while he leaned against the side of the boat.

"Everybody in?" Hagrid asked as he got into one boat, which was all for himself. "Alrigh', FORWARD!" He called, and the boat started sailing forward on command.

Everyone remained largely silent, save for a few gasps here and there from one of the girls as they looked upon the castle, or one of the boys screaming because they swore that something jumped onto them while they were going through low trees. When the boats finally stopped, there was a shared feeling of relief, Reagan thought.

They all walked from where the small boats stopped, up to the great front doors made of oak wood, which Hagrid knocked on with his large knuckles, and the doors opened. A small man greeted everyone at the door, smiling at the young students who were trying to peer into the large entrance hall. "Firs' years're here, Professor Flitwick!" Hagrid said with a smile that was hidden in his tangle of beard.

"Yes, thank you, Hagrid! Enjoy your evening." Professor Flitwick said, returning the smile. Reagan could definitely see already how Flitwick was Siobhan's favorite Professor. He had a very welcoming air about him, just like her dad.

Professor Flitwick lead the children into the castle and off to a small chamber opposite the doorway to the Great Hall. "Good evening, all! Welcome to Hogwarts." Flitwick started, then going on a spiel about the four Houses and the expected behavior at the school. "The Sorting Ceremony will begin in a few short minutes in front of the whole student body, so prepare yourselves for many eyes on you if you're the nervous type," Professor Flitwick finally concluded. "I will return in a few minutes when we're ready for you."

Professor Flitwick left the chamber, and Reagan's nerves came back in full effect. _In front of the whole student body. _Everyone. All eyes on him. Why on _earth _did Flitwick mention that? Was this the school's way of weeding out the faint of heart? Because Reagan certainly felt like it was. What if he tripped on his way up? What if they all laughed? What if the hat put him in a house that was different from his newly-met friends? What if Shea and Siobhan didn't want to associate with them anymore because he was in a different house from them? Reagan felt nauseous again despite not having eaten since before he got to King's Cross Station. He took a few stabilizing breaths to keep him from shaking so badly, but they seemed to have little effect.

As the other students were whispering to each other about the ceremony or trying to distract themselves from their own nerves by looking around, Reagan was nervously fidgeting with the tie he put on crooked when on the train, and tried in vain to smooth out the auburn mess of hair on his head. It was all he could to keep his mind off the people in the other room, and not break down crying. "You know anyone out there?" Teddy asked suddenly, startling Reagan into jumping.

"Yeah... my cousins are out there," He said, giving his tie another tweak as he tried to settle down. Teddy didn't seem to make any effort to fix his own tie, which was crooked and loose. Siobhan would've hit Reagan over the head if he went out like that. "What about you?" he asked.

Teddy shook his head. "Nah, nobody now. But my best friend Victoire is coming next year, she's a lot like family to me."

"Oh..." Reagan said, and left it at that. Reagan thought that sentiment awful queer, as he'd never been one to consider friends like family. But then again, he didn't exactly have many friends in the first place. He decided he wouldn't voice his opinion, since he didn't want to cause any trouble.


	2. The Sorting

**A/N: Chapter updated as of 5/25/15.**

**Some names for the Sorting taken out as they will be introduced later in the story.**

* * *

After what seemed like forever to Reagan, Professor Flitwick came back. "Alright, children, the ceremony is about to begin, so if you all could un-cluster, please, that would be lovely!" Flitwick said with a light laugh as the first-years formed a line, "Now, follow me."

If the view of the castle from the outside was amazing, the Great Hall was absolutely _breath-taking. _Reagan couldn't help but gawk slightly at the sight as he stumbled along with his fellow first-years. The hall was lit by thousands of candles that were floating above the four tables where the rest of the students were seated. All of the tables were laid with golden plates and goblets, including the last long table, the staff table, which was sitting horizontal so it faced the other tables. Floating among the students were pale, silvery ghosts, but the most amazing thing, Reagan thought, was the ceiling above. It looked exactly as the sky did outside, dark and filled with many, many stars.

As the first-years line came to a halt so they were all in front of the staff table, facing the entire student body, Professor Flitwick brought out a small, four-legged stool and an ancient-looking pointed hat, which he rested on top of it.

The hat proceeded to sing a song out of a rip near the frayed brim, about the founders of each house; Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin, and Helga Hufflepuff, and each of the traits that they treasured most in their houses: Gryffindor treasured the brave, nervy and daring so he could see why Shea ended up there, Ravenclaw the wise, witty and bookish, so he could see why Siobhan there. Slytherin treasured the cunning and ambitious, which Reagan felt he was neither, and Hufflepuff took the loyal, hard-working and patient, which Reagan thought sounded much like his mother from what he could remember of her.

Everyone applauded as the hat finished its song, and Professor Flitwick stepped forward, now holding a roll of parchment. "When I call your name, come forward and sit on the stool, and the hat will sort you into your houses," He stretched out the roll of parchment, and read the first name. "Ackerman, Holly!"

A girl with long, straight brown hair and a pink face full of freckles skipped forward, not looking nervous in the least. If she _was, _Reagan thought, she was really good at hiding it. She tossed some stray hair over her shoulders, beamed out to everyone before her, and let the hat be put on her head.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat shouted without hesitation, then Holly (and her now black and yellow tie) skipped her way over to the Hufflepuff table, hugging a tall, older boy with a Prefect's badge, who had his arms outstretched. Reagan guessed that he must be a brother, because he didn't think that Prefects

"Andrews, Elsa!" A blonde girl who looked fairly small for an eleven year old walked over, tripping over her robes that were a smidge too big for her on the way over. Some students laughed, and the small girl got up with, face reddening, and clambered onto the stool. "RAVENCLAW!" The hat proclaimed, and the girl hurried over to her table, diving into the table between a couple older girls including Siobhan, who consoled her.

"Arthur, Kyle!" The boy who Reagan ran into on the train went over to the stool. While he was walking he glared at Reagan, and he couldn't help the really bad feeling in the pit of his stomach as he caught his eyes. Kyle furrowed his brows. _Was he still mad? _Reagan thought. _Is he going to try and hex me when I have me back turned? _He didn't like the look that he was getting from him, so he turned his gaze down to his shoes instead. "SLYTHERIN!" The hat shouted almost as soon as the hat was upon Kyle's curly head.

After a while, Reagan's mind drifted out of focus until the raven-haired boy he shared the boat with, Ashley, was placed in Gryffindor; leaving his shaggy-haired friend to agonize for a few minutes until he'd finally be called up.

After a few more names, Lukas was called up. Lukas now looked as terrified as Reagan did most of the day, eyes wide open as he plopped down on the seat with the hat on his head. The hat had taken a long time deciding where Lukas should be, and it seemed like Lukas' internal arguing couldn't change the hat's mind. "HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat shouted, and Lukas slumped over to the Hufflepuff's table, looking slightly disappointed.

After Morgan was placed into Gryffindor (being greeted by a hug that neither of the two boys were ashamed to have everyone see), Reagan's name was finally called up, and he drew two slow, deep breaths as he walked to the stool.

He could see Shea and Siobhan craning their necks to see, both of them smiling, probably remembering their time two years ago on the stool. It felt like ages from his spot in line to the stool, but thankfully he got there without any real hitch. He sat down on the stool and let the hat be placed on his head, which somewhat drooped over his eyes as he tried to avoid the stares of everyone in the room.

_"Ah, so we have another Hammond," _Reagan heard a voice whispering in his head. _"I remember everyone who I have sorted since I was first created... why, it seems like only yesterday since your brother was sorted... even your mother is a fairly clear memory... She was just as uncertain as you are right now, didn't know where she belonged... every one of her brothers so far had been in different houses. You have many of her qualities... you seem to have an incredibly nervous mind..." _Reagan felt his heart drop a little as the hat mentioned his mother's main shortcoming. _"But also a very kind heart, a tolerance and patience for others, you seem to me a hard worker, with a willingness to learn. I think you will do well in..." _Reagan's heartbeat quickened in pace as he tightened his grip on the seat of the stool, eyes shut tight. "HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat shouted, and Reagan was relieved.

He grinned widely as he went over to the Hufflepuff's table, taking in the applause that some of the students imparted on the students who were being sorted, and took a seat by Lukas who looked immensely cheered up that _someone _he knew was in Hufflepuff with him.

After Reagan was seated at the Hufflepuff table, he chattered with Lukas, neither of them really paying attention to the sorting now that they were together, until _Longbourne, Felicity _and _Longbourne, Felix _were sorted into Ravenclaw, and Lukas recognized them as the twins from his boat.

"Lupin, Edward!" Flitwick called, and Teddy walked to the stool as carefully as he could, trying to show no fear to the crowd, sitting down and putting the hat on his head. After a couple minutes, the hat shouted "HUFFLEPUFF!" Teddy's cool facade slipped in a grand way as he got one leg tangled on the stool and fell over, scrambled up to his feet, and grinned at the laughing children in the hopes of conveying the message _it's okay, I meant to do that _(Teddy's hair turned a slightly pinker along with his cheeks before he controlled it, though, which definitely betrayed the message.). He then hurried over to a spot between Reagan and Lukas at the table.

Reagan and his two friends drifted in and out of focus as the hat sorted from _Nejem, Ahmed _to _Van Houten, Geoffrey, _and the nauseous feeling Reagan had throughout the day was replaced by an overwhelming _empty _feeling in his stomach that left him wondering about nothing more at the moment than "W_hen are we going to eat?". _A glance to his cousin at the Gryffindor table said that he was thinking the same exact thing. He couldn't hear him over the din in the hall, but he could read his lips saying, _"God, I'm starving!", _as he leaned his head back to look toward the heavenly ceiling in exasperation.

Professor Flitwick rolled the scroll back up, picked up the hat and stool, and went to put them away. As Flickwick left, the Headmistress stood up. She was a tall, stern-looking woman dressed in green robes and a pointy hat, gray hair pulled back into a bun. She surveyed the students as the noise in the hall stopped and all eyes went to her. She began speaking in a loud voice, so that all corners of the hall could hear. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts, and welcome to our new students! My name is Professor Minerva McGonagall, the Headmistress here. I have some notices for you, as we do every year, but," she said as she smiled to the students below, some of them (including Shea) looking positively mad with hunger. "I can see you all look very hungry, so let the feast begin!"

At those words, a wide range of food and drink appeared on all the tables. The appearance of all that food so suddenly left Reagan with his mouth and eyes wide-open with shock as he looked down the whole stretch of table, catching the eye of a couple older Hufflepuffs including a boy Reagan recognized as one of Shea's friends as well as Siobhan's crush. They were having a laugh as they watched the younger students shocked faces. He quickly averted his eyes and looked over to Lukas, who was in absolute bliss right now with a wide grin, helping himself to as much food as his plate could hold.

"Reagan, Reagan, _Ray! _Look at all this, didn't I _say _it'd be amazing? You should tuck in right now, 'fore I eat everything here!" he said with a laugh, then started eating at such a rapid pace that the other students at the table couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah, I think I'll do just that," Reagan said with smile, piling food onto his own plate. Roast chicken, a big helping of mashed potatoes, carrots... another serving of chicken... he wasn't eating quite as much as Lukas, but you could certainly tell that Reagan was making up for his skipped lunch. Even though he had had a lot of dinner, he didn't object to plenty of cake and pudding for dessert.

The desserts soon vanished as Professor McGonagall rose to her feet and cleared her throat. All eyes were on her. "Now that our minds are off the subject of food, the notices that I mentioned before we started dining," she said, a look of seriousness crossing her aged features. "First years should know that the forest grounds as strictly forbidden to pupils," she then gave a pointed look toward the direction of Shea and his Gryffindor friends, who were all smirking while engaged in their own conversation. _"All _pupils."

Shea's smirk vanished.

"Mr. Filch, our caretaker, would also like to remind you all—_for the thousandth time—_that the use of magic is _absolutely prohibited_ in the halls. There are a number of things that are also prohibited, and are seen on a list fastened on the door of Mr. Filch's office door. Quidditch Trials will be held the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house team should contact Madam Hooch," She said with a look over to the woman, then addressed the crowd again. "I am sure you all are very tired after your long journeys here. So I think it is wise that we all 'turn in', as they say. Prefects, if you will lead the first-years toward their houses, I will bid you all a good night." Professor McGonagall finished, and the Hall was filled again with the noise of many students chattering excitedly, this time also including the first-years wondering aloud what their house would be like.

"Hope it's not too long a walk," Teddy said, feet shuffling a little as they walked and he was in danger of tripping again. "I'm _exhausted."_

"You're in luck, Lupin," said the Hufflepuff prefect, turning his head to address Teddy. "Hufflepuff's common room entrance is just down the stairs, right by the kitchen entrance."

"Oh, cool, so we're _right by _the kitchens?" Lukas asked.

"Killian _just _told us that," said Holly Ackerman, rolling her eyes.

"Hey now, don't get cross with him, little sister," The prefect said to said sister, who had a nasty look on her face and looked ready to strike Lukas (who was sticking his tongue out at her).

They reached the bottom of the stairs, walked the corridor past the kitchens, and stopped at a stack of barrels. "The entrance is right here, barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row. To enter, you need to tap it in the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff'," Killian demonstrated by tapping said barrel so the first-years could see, prompting the barrel lid to swing open. "If you tap it the wrong amount of times, use the wrong rhythm, or tap the wrong barrel... well, you'll get drenched in vinegar, so _please_ be sure to remember, or else make sure to keep close by another Hufflepuff who _can_. I'd hate to hear of one our first-years having to sleep in the hall all wet."

The students followed Killian through the tunnel the barrel revealed, and set foot in the common room. The new students all gazed around in wonder.

"Whoa... it looks like a hobbit hole!" Connor Bailey, a fat, freckle-faced first-year with red hair exclaimed as he looked around the circular room, plopping down on a squashy yellow armchair by the fire. He reminded Reagan of a younger, pleasant-natured Shea.

"How do know what a rabbit hole even looks like on the inside, d'ya get stuck in one or somethin'?" Matty Autberry, a dark skinned first-year asked, a note of disbelief in his voice.

"No, not a _rabbit _hole_, _a _hobbit _hole!" Connor exclaimed. "Little people that live in hills."

"Dunno what you're on about." Matty replied.

"Alright, first-years, off to bed. Big day ahead of you tomorrow, so I don't want you stay up too late. Girls dormitories through the tunnel on the left, boys on the right," Killian said, pointing out the tunnels on the left and right, then leading the first-year boys to their dorm as the female prefect showed the girls to theirs.

Reagan followed Killian and the other first-year boys to their dormitory, and started unpacking his things quietly, listening to the other boys chattering away while they also unpacked.

"So, do you reckon classes tomorrow will be tough?" Lukas asked once he got unpacked and threw himself heavily onto his four-poster. "I know Killian said we've got a big day, but he probably tells that to all of the first years so they won't stay up later than they should."

"As if we were _really_ going right to bed," Teddy said, rolling his eyes as he plastered a poster of the Weird Sisters by his bed. "Probably just gonna be a bunch of introductions and going over simple spells. Shouldn't be _too_ tough."

"Speak for yourself!" Connor said, throwing his arms up in defeat. "I ain't ever heard spells being used for magic before! Aside from Hocus Pocus, Abracadabra and all that."

Matty raised a brow at him. "... Like the bits in the Daily Prophet? Those are _spells?_"

"The _what?" _Connor asked.

"The newspaper. The wizard newspaper," Matty replied.

"Wizards have _newspapers?" _Connor replied with a question, prompting the other boys in the room to all look at him. "What?"

Reagan couldn't help a wide grin at Connor's expense. Even him, who had a mostly Muggle childhood, knew that wizard's indeed had newspapers. "Connor, I think you have to pay extra attention tomorrow." he said with a small chuckle.

"And what's_ that _supposed to mean?!" Connor questioned as the other boys laughed, furrowing his brows and reminding Reagan even more of Shea.

"I-i didn't mean anything by it-" Reagan stammered.

"Oh, bugger off," Connor said with a huff, curling up under the covers and going to sleep, back facing the others.

Reagan honestly didn't mean any offense by it, but he'd apologize in the morning, when he thought Connor might have cooled off.


	3. The Squabble

**A/N: Edited as of 5/26/15.**

"Hey—Connor!" Reagan called after the ginger the next morning as the Hufflepuffs followed Killian to the Great Hall. Connor hadn't said a word to the other boys when they all woke up, got dressed without paying attention to any of them when they were trying to make conversation, and completely avoided Reagan.

Connor was speed-walking toward the Great Hall with Holly Ackerman beside him, who glared back at Reagan as he ran to catch up to them. Evidently Connor had told her about what Reagan said last night and the other boys' reaction, and she took it as the other boys playing 'Gang Up On The Muggle-Born', just as Connor did.

"_Don't even start, _Hammond. Can't you see that Connor doesn't want to talk to you?" Holly said fiercely, turning to him with her hands on her hips. Connor stopped beside her, but didn't say anything. "I don't blame him, after you and the others boys bullied him. You ought to be ashamed!"

Reagan frowned. "I _am _ashamed," he said, turning his frown down to his feet.

"That's right, you should be-" Holly stopped short, tilting her head in confusion. Connor turned to look at Reagan. "What?"

"I _am _ashamed," he repeated, looking Connor in the eyes. "Listen, Connor. I'm sorry. _Really _sorry. I didn't mean to poke fun at your expense, honest. I was jus' tryin' to say that-you know, you should pay attention today because you don't know much about the wizard world and that could put you behind everyone else," he furrowed his brows. "The other lads took it as a joke and I laughed with 'em. I know how lousy it feels to get laughed at and I shouldn'ta done it to you. It wasn't fair at all," he said as he held his hand out to Connor. "Forgive me?"

Connor looked at Reagan's outstretched hand for a second, smiled, met Reagan's eyes and shook his hand. "Yeah, I forgive you, mate."

Reagan smiled. "Good. Let's get down to breakfast, then. Sure one of 'em have started eatin' already without waitin' for us," he said, walking with Connor the rest of the way to the Great Hall.

When they reached the hall, they saw that Reagan was right. Teddy had taken a full plate of food but hadn't eaten much, but Lukas was already eating as if the food would be taken from under his nose any minute. Matty just looked like he'd fall asleep in his oatmeal.

"I hate early mornings," he yawned, head in hand. "Absolutely hate them."

"Well, this is going to be a fun experience, ain't it?" Teddy said, then looked over to Reagan and Connor approaching the three of them, just dodging the dirty look that Matty shot him. "Wotcher, Reagan! What's taken you so long? Is Connor talking to us again?"

"Connor can hear you, you know," Connor said, sitting next to Matty and starting to fill up his plate.

Reagan smiled as he sat down. "Yeah, Connor _is_ speaking to us again. I was just about to say somethin', too..." he trailed off, wracking his brain for what he was going to say.

"Take your time, then," Teddy said with a smirk.

Reagan glared at him. "Oh, _hush. _I'm thinkin'. I was just about to say that we should lend Connor a hand today, get him... sort of up to speed on things in the wizard world," He looked over at Connor. "If that's alright with you?"

Raising his brows, Connor nodded. "Yeah, that's alright! I'm gonna need all the help I can get, right?"

"Sounds like a plan, then!" Teddy said brightly, pounding the table with his hand and accidentally flinging a spoon in Matty's direction, startling him awake after he dozed off. Matty shot him another dirty look, which Teddy caught this time and sunk under. "Sorry!"

"What do you think, Lukas?" Reagan asked as he turned to him. Lukas' mouth was full, so he settled for looking at Reagan and giving a thumbs-up. "Okay, Connor, so if you n-"

"Reagan!" Called a familiar voice that was approaching from across the hall.

Reagan whipped his head over to the source of the noise. It was his cousin approaching, waving at him, with the small, mousy-brown haired girl walking beside her. "Hullo, Siobhan!" he said with a smile. The other boys turned to look at her. "And... Elsa, right?" The small girl nodded mutely. "What's up?"

Siobhan smiled in return. "I just wanted to see how my _little ray of sunshine _is getting on so far," Siobhan said, approaching Reagan and mussing up his hair. The other boys snickered at the nickname, prompting Reagan to flush in embarrassment, but Siobhan didn't seem to notice. "Little Elsie here wanted to come, the poor lass didn't want to be left alone. Had a good night's rest?" Siobhan asked.

Reagan knew his cousin well enough that this was only a starting question; the beginning to several questions making sure he was comfortable after his first day, so he braced himself. "Yeah, I did."

"Was it cold down there? I heard that it gets a bit nippy in the lower levels."

"No, it was actually pretty comfortable. Nice and warm."

"Did you have anything to eat on the train?"

"I didn't, but its okay, I had a big dinner."

"Did Shea check up on you already?"

"He didn't, I haven't seen him since last night."

"Are these your friends?" Siobhan asked, looking toward the boys.

Reagan looked at the boys as well, hoping for affirmation. _He _thought they were friends, but what if the others did not? Matty hadn't made any sign as he was out like a light again; but Lukas, Teddy and Connor were all smiling and nodding. Reagan smiled, looked back to Siobhan and nodded. "Yeah, they are. They're m'roomates as well."

Siobhan's eyebrows raised either in surprise or delight. "Oh! How wonderful. Could you introduce them to me? I'm afraid I wasn't paying all that much attention to the sorting aside from when it called your name."

"Sure!" Reagan said, now beaming. "This is Connor Bailey," He pointed out the redhead, who waved. "The sleepy one is Matty Autberry," He pointed out the boy who was asleep with his head in his arms. "That's Lukas Gallagher. I met him on the train," He pointed out the blonde, who waved more fervently than Connor had. "And that's Teddy Lupin, we talked on the way up to the castle," He said, pointing over to dark-haired boy, who gave a two fingered salute. "Guys, this is Siobhan, my cousin."

"It's nice to meet you all! Gallagher... your brother isn't Will Gallagher, is he? The Gryffindor prefect?"

Lukas nodded. "Yeah, that's my brother. You know him?"

"Haven't met him personally, but I know of him. Shea gets in trouble with him regularly, so I usually hear about him in complaints from Shea about how unfair he is," she furrowed her brows, then adopted a voice like Shea's. "_'I was jus' goin' for a little walk in the corridors because I couldn't sleep, it wasn't harmin' nobody'_. Honestly, he's ridiculous to think he _wouldn't _get in trouble for something like that," She said, catching sight of Shea's good friend Kennith out of the corner of her eye, who was laughing at the dead-on impression of his friend.

"This Shea guy sounds like a riot," Teddy said with a smirk to Lukas and Connor, who both nodded with grins plastered on their faces.

"Is that all you wanted, Siobhan?" Reagan asked, poking at his breakfast and avoiding the looks of the other boys, slightly embarrassed.

"Hmm?" Siobhan was pulled out of her daze toward the boy, flushing. "Oh, ehm... Shea's going to check up with you at dinner, mum wanted us to take turns during first week," she hugged Reagan from behind with one arm, and kissed him on the top of his head. "Good luck today, don't get in any fights."

"I won't, I promise..." Reagan said uncertainly, a flush creeping up his neck. He wouldn't _start _any, but he had the funniest feeling that Kyle would certainly try to.

"Goodbye!" she said, letting go of Reagan and heading over to Ravenclaw table, waving at the boys as she left. Elsa waved to them mutely as well. The boys all waved back, including Reagan, but aside from him, the boys had looks of suppressed laughter.

When Siobhan was out of sight, the three boys turned to him and burst out laughing, which caused the flush that was creeping up his neck earlier to go straight to his face. He tried to hide it by looking at his breakfast.

"_Little Ray of Sunshine!" _Lukas shouted.

"Please stop..." Reagan mumbled.

"Does wittle Weagan miss sissy's kissies?" Teddy teased.

_"Please _stop_." _Reagan said, more forcefully.

"Reagan, I didn't take you for the _brawling _type!" Connor said.

He stood up and looked at the other boys, obviously hurt. "Guys, _come on! _I'm asking nicely here."

The others looked at Reagan and immediately sobered up. "I promise I won't call you that if you don't like it, Ray!" Lukas said, eyebrows raised high.

"Guess that was a _bit_ out of line..." Teddy trailed off, crossing his arms with a shamed look.

"Err... sorry, mate," Connor said, a nervous grin on his face. "Suppose we're even, now?"

Reagan cracked a small smile and shook his head, "Yeah, suppose so," he said.

…...

After breakfast was finished, the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw first-years both proceeded to the first class of the year – Transfiguration.

Since the previous Transfiguration teacher was now the Headmistress, she was replaced eleven years ago by a man named Jeremiah Hilliard. The man was a favorite among the students if only because he was the subject of quite a few outlandish rumors.

"I heard that he escaped from an orphanage when he was nine years old and was on the run ever since!" said a Ravenclaw witch, as the first-years all walked to the classroom.

"_I _heard that he's a werewolf, _that's _why he ran away from that orphanage. He got bit and didn't want to be around other kids and hurt them," said another Ravenclaw, nodding with a solemn look on his face.

Teddy rolled his eyes.

"I heard that he taught in _France _for a while, at the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic!" Holly piped in, "Isn't that so _neat? _We're learning transfiguration from someone who taught in _France!"_

"I heard something about him being a Bullfrog Animagus, but I think they were jus' yanking' me leg." said another boy.

"I heard that he was supposed to be a Ravenclaw! I mean _really, _someone as smart as him in _Gryffindor_?" said another boy, rather pompously.

"Oi! Gryffindors can be just as smart as Ravenclaws when they wanna!" Lukas said angrily, then turning to Reagan. "You heard anything about him, Ray?"

"Ehm... not much aside from that Siobhan has a big crush on him," Reagan said with a nervous smile.

"Hope he's patient," Connor said, looking worried. "I don't think I'm gonna be very good right away..."

"I'm sure he _has _to be good, if Professor McGonagall chose him," said another Ravenclaw witch.

The students all sat down in the classroom, still chattering about the rumors about Professor Hilliard, right up until he arrived. Reagan couldn't be any more surprised when the man they were all talking about arrived; the man didn't seem at all larger than life than they made him out to be.

"Alright class, settle down, settle down," Said Professor Hilliard, calmly but clearly. The man was fairly young; either in his late twenties or early thirties, with wavy brown hair and a light stubble. He had a very calm look about him, which was the main reason Reagan doubted that he had had a turbulent life. "My name is Professor Jeremiah Hilliard, your Transfiguration professor. Transfiguration is one of the most difficult and dangerous forms of magic," Connor could be heard moaning. "But if you focus and apply yourself, you can do this," He then changed his desk into a large pig.

The students were all impressed and applauded Professor Hilliard. He nodded gratefully, then changed the pig back into a desk. "I will tell you right now, it will be quite a while until you're doing that, and right now we are going to be starting small. Copy what I have written on the board, and then we will get started with the rest of the lesson."

The students took out their quills and parchment, and copied down what was written on the board. Once they were finished copying the notes on the board, they proceeded to the first lesson; which was to change a match into a needle. Many of the students failed to do so on the first try with the exception of two; the grouchy, bespectacled boy how shared a boat with Lukas the previous night, Ahmed Nejem, and, to his and his table-mate's great surprise: Connor.

Reagan had walked him through the process and would have done it for himself, but his concentration was on helping him first.

"Excellent work, Mr. Bailey!" Professor Hilliard said as he went around, inspecting the students' work, and clapped a shoulder on Connor's shoulder. "Ten points to Hufflepuff."

Connor beamed up at him. "Thanks, Professor Hilliard!" Reagan smiled at Connor, giving him a thumbs up. Connor gave him a thumbs up and waited for Professor Hillard to walk away. "Thanks a lot, Reagan!" he said.

"It was no problem. I promised I'd help, didn't I?" Reagan replied.

…...

Aside from Connor's triumph, there was nothing much of note happening in the class. As everyone walked to their next classes, Ahmed was acting considerably cool toward anyone who tried to talk to him in his annoyance with the teacher overlooking him being the first to achieve the set goal, in favor of 'that bumbling Muggle-born'.

Even as they walked the corridor to their next class, Herbology, which they had with the Slytherins, Connor was beaming to himself with pride and divulging his triumph with anyone who was near enough to hear it. "Imagine that! Me, a Muggle-born, was the first one to figure out how to do it!" He said.

"You _weren't, _though. That Nejem kid was. Then Reagan, but he didn't do it for himself 'cause he was showing _you,_" Teddy pointed out, prompting Reagan to flush and look away in embarrassment and Connor to give him a sour look. "What? You _weren't _the first one, you had help. The professor just happened to notice that you'd done it."

Connor spent the duration of class time, like Ahmed, treating everyone coldly as he did the previous evening. Even Reagan, even though he hadn't said a word against him this time.

"I was fine with him getting the praise, you know..." Reagan said as he sat down next to Teddy in Herbology. "He needed a pick-me-up."

"I don't _care _what he needed, it was a prat move for him to do that. _You _taught him the steps when he didn't get it, you're the one who deserves the credit, not him," Teddy said, furrowing his brows as he looked at Reagan, who was avoiding locking eyes with him. "Come off, don't tell me you were _actually _okay with it!"

"I—I guess I wasn't... I just thought it sorta made up for what I said-"

"You apologized, didn't you? And he forgave you, right? You didn't have to make up for anything, you already did."

Reagan still didn't look at him. "I don't _feel _like I did-"

"You _did, _mate. He's just an ungrateful prat," Teddy said, patting him on the shoulder. "You're allowed to be mad at him."

"I'm not _mad. _And would you stop calling him-" Reagan started, but was cut off.

"Mr. Lupin, Mr. Hammond, if you aren't talking about Fire-making spells, then I have to ask you to continue your discussion after class," Professor Longbottom warned as he passed by the pair.

"Sorry, Mr. Longbottom," Reagan and Teddy said. Although Teddy didn't look or sound even a bit sorry, Reagan made up for it by looking quite pathetic.

_"Maybe he's right," _Reagan thought._ "Maybe I don't owe him anything... I could've got the praise but I didn't. And he was being really annoying about it too... He could've told everyone that I helped but he acted like he did it all himself instead." _Reagan furrowed his brows. _"I _am _kind of angry! And he doesn't have any right to be angry with me 'cause all I did was help!"_

Reagan wasn't the type to get mad often, but when he was, he was _seething._ He spent a great deal of the rest of the class period angrily scribbling his notes in silence with his brows still furrowed. When someone asked him a question, he just responded with a grunt. This behavior kept up until lunchtime, when he sat alone at a corner of Hufflepuff table while his dorm mates were a few seats over from him, having noticed early on that he was irate.

"Alone on your first day, eh?" Kyle Arthur said with a sneer as he walked past Reagan with a first year Slytherin girl. "How _pathetic. _I guess I should've expected from some raggedy Hammond boy."

Reagan looked around, not immediately registering that the insult was meant for him. "I _wanted _to be alone."

"Oh, _of course _you did. Didn't want to accidentally stomp on anyone's feet, huh?" Kyle retorted, prompting the girl to giggle obnoxiously.

Reagan furrowed his brows. "That was an _accident. _I didn't see you in the train, there was too many people. I was just tryin' to get out," Reagan said, then added as an after-thought, "Just like _you _were, but I wasn't intentionally trying to hurt anyone."

A flash of anger crossed Kyle's eyes, and he crossed his arms. "Are you _accusing me _of hurting people?!"

"That's _exactly _what I'm doing, actually," Reagan said, folding his arms as well.

"How _dare _you! Don't you know who I am?!" Kyle shouted.

"No, I'm afraid I _don't. _Why should I? I'm just the pathetic loner, aren't I?"

"I'm _Kyle Arthur, _for your information! My father could_ defame_ yours with the snap of his fingers, so don't cross me or I'll tell him what you've done!"

"I don't care _if _you tell him or not! It's not like he could put my father out of business, I don't _have _one!" Reagan said, standing up and slamming his hands on the table. "Why don't you go pick on someone your own species, you toad!"

Reagan's dorm mates all stared at him at his less intense outburst that morning, but now everyone else in the vicinity of Reagan and Kyle was staring at him as well; watching him intently as if he was some sort of circus entertainer.

What had led up to that point was just a spot of annoyance. But now, it was pure, thoughtless rage. He was very sensitive on the topic of his parents; though he hadn't seen his father before, it still hurt when people tried to bring him up. Kyle was lucky that he hadn't brought up Reagan's mother; if he had, then there was no telling what Reagan would do.

"Oi! Hammond! I'm warning you right now, we don't call names!" Killian shouted across the table.

Kyle clenched his teeth and narrowed his eyes. "You don't want me as an enemy, Hammond. _Think _about what you've said," And with that, Kyle whisked away.

"What on _earth _was that about?" Said Lukas as him and his dorm mates went over to Reagan.

Reagan paused, trying to think it over. "... I reckon I've just made an enemy."


	4. Flying

"You _reckon _you've made an enemy_?" _Matty repeated Reagan, with an incredulous tone. "Obviously you have, did you see how seething mad he was?"

"What've you gone and done to him, Ray? That Kyle was in a right state!" Lukas said.

"I didn't do nothin'. He was the one that started pokin' fun at me in the first place."

"_Obviously_ you didn't 'do nothin', he stomped off like a five-year-old. What was it?" Matty asked.

Reagan shrugged. "I _may _have given him cheek?"

"Nice!" Teddy exclaimed, raising a hand up in the air for a high five. The other boys looked worried. "What? The prat deserved it. Did you see the way he was pushing those kids around yesterday? Nearly shoved someone out of the boat on the way here!"

"Well, as much as he would've deserved it_, _giving him cheek doesn't seem like too good an idea. He'll only give you trouble if you do something like that. I'd recommend not getting on his bad side," Matty said.

"I think it's a bit late for that... Oh man... I didn't even mean to step on his foot yesterday, why did he take it so personally?" Reagan said, digging his hands into his hair.

"You stepped on his foot, too?" Matty said.

"_Accidentally_ stepped on his foot. Like I said, I didn't mean to, there was just so many people..."

"Okay, here's another suggestion then," Matty said.

"What?"

"Avoid him. Like the plague_," _Matty said, with careful emphasis on the last word. "Understand? Like the _plague."_

"That doesn't seem likely," Reagan replied.

"It's a big castle, how would you run into him?" Matty questioned loudly, throwing his hands in the air.

"Well, it's not like I ran into him just now... he approached me, not the other way around." Making a gesture for reversing with his fingers.

"-Right. Didn't take that into account," Matty said after a short moment of thought.

"Maybe you should just ignore him if he tries to bother you again," Connor piped up suddenly, after remaining silent the whole time.

"That's actually not that bad of an idea..." Matty mused.

"Alright then, I'll just... ignore him. That should do it. If I don't listen then he can't do anythin'," Reagan said, then looked at Connor. "Ehm... good idea, Connor."

"No problem," Connor replied with a small smile.

"We should probably get to class 'fore we're late, not sure if Macmillan's gonna favor us just because we're in his house," Lukas said, and the boys all set off for their Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

"Good afternoon, class," Professor Macmillan said to the class of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, watching as a few of the students (including Reagan and Connor) went for their quills and parchment. "We won't be needing those just yet. Put them away for now." And the students put them away, looking fairly perplexed. "We'll be doing a fair amount of _hands on _in this class. That is, more doing than writing."

The students went from perplexed to excitedly attentive just like that. Macmillan smiled. "That doesn't mean we _won't _be writing at all, of course, but that this class is more based on experience and having you properly prepared to handle a dangerous situation should it arise. We will start with a demonstration, then a small lecture, and you all take notes. In some cases, I will ask you to practice, but only in the case of self-defense against something non-human."

The students all looked rather pleased at the way things were being run in this class already. "We are going to start out with the Curse of The Bogies, which requires reciting the incantation _Mucus ad Nauseam. _Repeat after me. _Mucus ad Nauseam._"

"_Mucus ad Nauseam_," The students all chanted.

"Very good, very good. For the demonstration, I have got your Transfiguration teacher, Mr. Hilliard, to agree to volunteer," Macmillan gestured over to Hilliard with his wand, who waved half-heartedly and gave Macmillan a look that said 'If anything goes wrong, I'll throttle you'. Macmillan seemed to ignore this look altogether. "Mr. Hilliard, if you will please face me."

"I still don't like this, Ernie," He said, facing him and holding his wand up to hold up the guise of putting up a fight.

"Not to worry, Jeremiah, no harm will come of you!" Macmillan said cheerily, which worried the students quite a bit. "_Mucus ad Nauseam!_" He said with gusto, flourishing his wand and pointing at the other man.

Hilliard's nose immediately started running with snot. The students all either laughed or made noises of disgust. Along with the runny nose, the color seemed to drain from the man's face and he looked rather sickly. "Ah-ah-ACHOO!" The man sneezed rather loudly, but thankfully none of the students got caught in the crossfire.

"As you all can see, the Curse of the Bogies gives you a cold which—if not treated—will be terrible enough to leave you sick for weeks. It also, as the name tells, gives you a particularly bad case of the bogies," Macmillan said, looking over at Hilliard, who was now blowing his nose. "Mr. Hilliard will be just fine, though, I assure you." Hilliard took this as his cue to leave the room, glaring at the other man.

Half of the students wore a look of pity for the man, while the other half was snickering and smirking at the whole thing, probably scheming who they'd use the hex on when they had the chance.

"Blimey, a curse that gives you a sick day? I don't think I'd go out of my way to dodge _that," _Connor said, eyebrows raised high and seeming very impressed.

"Makes you _really_ sick though. One of my cousins was practicing that curse once, auntie really pitched into 'im when he got his little sister so sick they had to go to St. Mungo's," Lukas replied, arms crossed over his desk.

"Yeah, it'd be better to go with a skivving snackbox instead," Teddy said, leaning back in his chair so far that it was in danger of tipping over.

"Guys, be quiet...!" Reagan hissed, looking back from the door Mr. Hilliard just left, to the other boys.

"Boys, is there something you would like to share with the class?" Mr. Macmillan questioned, eyes on the boys as he strolled past them.

"They were discussing the use of the curse, sir," Matty said, finally piping up.

"Very well, then. If you would leave discussion until _after _class, I'd like to finish the lecture," Mr. Macmillan said, now addressing the five boys instead of the four who were talking.

"Yes, sir," The boys said in unison. Matty only nodded.

"Good. So," He began strolling away from them, back to the front of the room. "I will not be having you practice this curse, as accidents are bound to happen and I'm sure none of you would like to miss out on your first week," He ignored the collective groan of the students. "I know, I know... it's very disappointing, but it's just policy. I promise you will get to do some wandwork eventually. For now, though, quills and parchment out."

The class set to work taking notes on Professor Macmillan's lecture of the Curse of the Bogies, and then they were dismissed.

"Until next class, students!" Macmillan had called out the door as students darted out of the door to their next classes. "Please remember to read the first chapter of _The Dark Forces _before next class period!"

"Race you lot to the Quidditch pitch!" Teddy called back to the other Hufflepuff boys as he darted ahead of them, out of the room.

"You're on!" Lukas shouted, running as fast as his short legs could carry him so he could catch up.

"Guys—this isn't a good idea!" Reagan shouted to them when they had gotten further ahead. He heaved a sigh in realizing that they hadn't heard him, and then ran after them.

Connor just watched as the others sped ahead while walking beside Matty and asked, "There's no chance of me catching up to them, is there?"

"No chance at all," Matty replied.

After a few minutes, the three boys had eventually made their way down several flights of stairs without a scratch, and made their way to a landing that was not far from the great oak doors.

Teddy looked over his shoulder back at the other boys, smirking. "Come on, you seriously can't catch up?" Teddy gloated, accidentally tripping over the leg of the very weak and wobbly Professor Hilliard, who was on his way to the Hospital Wing for treatment of the cold that Macmillan had foisted upon him during his demonstration for the class.

This act made both Hilliard and Teddy tumble to the ground, but while Teddy seemed unscathed due to many years of bumps and spills, Professor Hilliard was not nearly as lucky, as not only was he in a weak state already, but he hit the ground with such force that he had blacked out.

"Sorry, professor!" Teddy shouted as he righted himself. Hearing no response, he looked at the professor with wide eyes. "Professor-?"

When Teddy had stopped, both Lukas and Reagan had gained on him, and Reagan could be seen barreling down the hall.

"Reagan, look out-" Teddy called.

"What-" Reagan said, not able to stop so quickly and tripping over the professor's outstretched arm, throwing him onto the floor. "Ouch."

"I _said_ look out!" Teddy said, standing over him.

"Sorry, I couldn't stop," Reagan said, scrambling up to his feet.

The boys heard rapid footsteps coming in their direction and whipped their heads to the source of the noise, to see Lukas speeding down the hall. "Lukas, slow down, you're going to-" Reagan hollered, holding out his hands. Lukas had barreled straight into Reagan, knocking them both over. "Crash. That _really _hurt, Lukas," he whined.

"Sorry there, Ray!" Lukas said, scrambling to his feet and offering Reagan a hand to help him up. "What's happened to Hilliard?" he asked as he looked down at the ailed professor.

"I dunno-" Reagan replied. "He was like that when I'd got here. What happened, Teddy?"

Teddy ran a hand through his hair, trying his best not to let it change to the vibrant orange that only ever showed up in moments of worry. "I—er, I tripped over his leg and he—he kinda just flipped on his back and," he looked down to the professor then back to the boys. "I think he's passed out."

"Teddy!" Reagan shouted, eyes wide and brows raised in an expression of panic.

"I didn't mean to do it—I wasn't looking where I was going," he said, eyes flicking to the window.

"We have to do something! What if he's seriously hurt?" Reagan asked.

"But—_flying! _I don't want to be late for that!" Teddy whined, gesturing to the window.

"I'm kind of with Teddy, I don't want to miss flying," Lukas said. "There's still loads people here, someone'll find him eventually and take him to the infirmary."

"Yeah, yeah! And it's not a good idea to come to a class late on the first day anyway, it'll just leave a bad impression!" Teddy reasoned, likely more with himself than anyone.

Reagan looked thoroughly conflicted, and after a moment of pause he finally heaved a great sigh. "Alright, fine. We'll let someone else handle it."

Because the three boys had stopped when Professor Hilliard had fallen, Matty and Connor were able to catch up with them as they made their way out of the great oak front doors and down the lawn to the Quidditch pitch. Connor had proclaimed himself the winner, but neither Teddy nor Lukas seemed to remember that a race happened in the first place.

"Oh, nevermind then," Connor mumbled as he looked out into the distance. "'course you're not accepting that _I _won, Teddy, apparently I'm too fat and stupid to do it myself."

Teddy rolled his eyes, picking up what he had said while he was bringing up the rear down the steps. "I didn't even say anything _close _to that-"

"Just leave him alone, he's still bitter about earlier," Matty said dismissively.

"Oh, Poor Professor Hilliard!" A fourth-year Gryffindor girl exclaimed to her friend as they were strolling along the green down to the Black Lake, behind the five boys. "I heard that he had to be carried away to the infirmary on a stretcher! Gladys said that he looked absolutely dreadful, I wonder what happened to the poor thing."

"Oh no, did you hear that?" Reagan asked once the girl and her friend had passed them.

"What?" Teddy asked.

Connor had peeled his eyes from the distance. He'd been focused on something flying in the distance over the Quidditch pitch quite hard, and seemed excited to get over there and see exactly what it was.

"Professor Hilliard's in the infirmary! And it's our fault, so we should go visit and apologize!"

"Wait, _your _fault?" Matty asked. "What have you gone and done now, Hammond?"

"It wasn't me," Reagan said, blushing brightly. "Well… I did trip over his arm, but it was Teddy who'd hurt him."

"Oh. You can spare the details, then-" Matty said dryly. "Knowing how he made such a scene at the sorting last night, it was probably a disaster."

"Suppose I _should _give him a proper apology, since it was my fault in the first place," Teddy interjected, scratching his head as his hair unconsciously morphed into a pink color, embarrassed with his clumsiness.

"Well, if there's no reason for me to go, I'd rather not," Matty said. "I don't like being around hospitals. Makes me nervous."

"I think I'm going to finish unpacking, I forgot to do it last night," Connor said sheepishly, rubbing his neck.

"I'll go… I didn't really do anything but I still feel kinda bad about it," Lukas said.

"'Right then, it's settled. Teddy, Lukas and I will go to the infirmary after class," Reagan said.

So the five boys followed the rest of the Hufflepuffs, as well as the Gryffindors, to the Quidditch pitch for flying lessons. Although the first-years were not allowed a broom for themselves, they were still able to take broom-flying classes so those who didn't know how to fly already would be able to get acclimated to it.

"Oh man, this is going to be so _cool!" _exclaimed Ashley, bouncing along with the other first-years on their way to the pitch. "I already know how to fly, but I only ever flew on those toy brooms. I can't wait to get up in the air on a real racing broom! What kind do you figure they got, Morg?"

Morgan gave a shrug. "Dunno, I don't think they've got anything all that extraordinary since there's so many kids here. I'm not sure they're racing brooms, either."

"You mean we're flying on _broomsticks? _You actually do that?" Connor asked, eyebrow raised high.

"Of course! What other way is there to fly?" Ashley stated.

"He could've heard about the flying car, Ash, that's probably why he's confused," Morgan said to his friend.

Connor's eyebrows raised so high they were in danger of disappearing into his hair. "Flying car?!" he exclaimed.

Ashley and Morgan exchanged glances with each other, both of them with eyebrows raised as well. "Y'aint heard of the flying Ford Anglia story?" Morgan asked.

"No," Connor said, brows creased in confusion.

"Well, it was in '92, back in Harry Potter's second year-" Ashley started.

"You can tell him about Harry Potter's exploits _later, _Mr. Crosby," said Madam Hooch, the Flying instructor, as the first-years gathered around the Quidditch pitch. "Afternoon, all. I'm sure you must be very excited to get up in the air."

There was some assorted murmurs of excitement from all the students.

"Very well then, all of you go over to the spot where there are brooms placed on the ground. No shoving_, please, _Mr. Dressler. Stand right beside your brooms when you find a spot."

All the students scrambled over to a spot and stood there, while Reagan was still searching for a spot.

"Over there, Mr. Hammond," Madame Hooch said, pointing over to a spot next to a brown haired boy, who was jabbing his red-haired housemate in the rib with his elbow for laughing at Reagan.

"Now. I want you to stick your right hand out in front of you, like so," She explained, sticking her right arm out with her hand facing the broom. "And then say, _UP. _With feeling. _UP." _The broom did as she commanded, and raised into her right hand.

"UP!" The students all chanted at once, raising their right arms in front of them. Each of the students had varying success. Reagan's would lift off the ground by an inch and then fall back down as if magnetized; while Teddy's was in his hand on the first try. Lukas's was also in his hand at once; while Holly's was stubbornly sticking to the ground and leaving her to chant: "UP! UP! UP!" while getting dangerously red in the face. Ashley and Morgan's got up easily; while Connor's wasn't at all, prompting Matty to give him an earful about 'not saying it with enough feeling'. From what the other Hufflepuffs had gathered, Matty wasn't one for noise, so Connor's inability to get his broom off the ground was frustrating him thoroughly.

"Ugh, you need to be _clearer! _You're _mumbling! _You aren't going to get it off the ground that way, you bloomin' idiot! Do you _need _everyone to hold your hand through these lessons?" Matty shouted at him.

"Mr. Autberry, that is quite _enough_! It is _my _job to instruct, five points from Hufflepuff!"

"_What—_but... Madam Hooch, I was just-just helping him!"

"Helping him into a mental breakdown, maybe, Con looks like he's about to start crying."

"Shut up, Teddy!" Connor shouted, getting red in the face.

"No buts, Mr. Autberry! And Mr. Lupin, don't you whip them up. If you three will _please _let me go on with my lesson, that would be much appreciated."

The three boys looked ashamed. "Yes, Madam Hooch..."

"Good. Keep at it, Mr. Bailey. And Mr. Autberry, please keep your comments to yourself,"

Matty nodded quietly, and Connor went back to chanting "Up, UP", this time more fervently than before.

After ten more minutes of the children demanding their brooms to come up, everyone finally had them in their hands.

"Very good, all of you. Remember, this is your first time, so patience and persistence is key. Now, I want all of you to mount your brooms, not unlike you would mount a horse. Swing your leg over the side of the broom, grip the broom tightly so as to not slip off," She held up her whistle. "And when I blow my whistle, kick off the ground, hover for a few moments and come back down."

The students did as Madam Hooch instructed, and waited for her whistle. "_Good. _Very good, and now," She raised the whistle to her lips and blew it.

The students kicked off hard on the ground to get up into the air, but some of them were having trouble, including the red-haired Gryffindor and Reagan. The Gryffindor's broom didn't seem to want to leave the ground, but Reagan's problem was just the opposite; while it was hovering in the air, it was higher than the others, and his broom didn't want to be stationary.

"Uhm... is it supposed to be this high?" Reagan called down to Madam Hooch nervously.

"It's a bit too high, Mr. Hammond, if you could guide it back toward the ground by pointing the end downward, that would fix it," Hooch instructed.

Reagan pointed his broom toward the ground, but the broom decided to take Reagan in an entirely different direction. It _did _go toward the ground, but at the last minute when Reagan would _just _be able to touch ground with his feet, the broom swept high into the air again and zoomed away from the Quidditch Field where they were practicing. "_Mr. Hammond! I said to GUIDE IT BACK DOWN! COME BACK THIS INSTANT!"_

The broom was now much higher than it was before, and going far faster despite how Reagan was trying to pull back like he'd seen his cousin do to get the broom to slow down. His arms were wrapped around the broom as if his life depended on it. "I _can't! I can't get it to go down!" _He hollered past the wind.

"All of you," Hooch addressed the rest of the class. "_Stay here on the ground. _I'm helping Hammond back down." She mounted her broom and went after Reagan.

Reagan and his broom disappeared from the view of the Quidditch pitch, looping around the Divination Tower, leading some very concerned Ravenclaw students away from their classwork to the window to see what was going on. "Oh, dear me-" The Divination teacher, Sybil Trelawney said in a faraway voice as she saw Reagan hanging on for dear life to his broom. "I daresay I saw that coming… how unfortunate."

After looping around the Divination Tower, the broom suddenly jerked downward as he got close to the courtyard, where he accidentally bowled into several students. "Sorry!" Reagan shouted back at them.

He looked forward to himself coming near one of the openings between the columns, and he tucked his body as close to the broom as he possibly could, and came through the other side unscathed. "Thank god-" Reagan muttered, stomach lurching as the broom jerked down yet again and Reagan found himself going down the cliff side, dipping dangerously close to the Black Lake.

"Mr. Hammond, remain calm!" Madam Hooch called as she got somewhat close to Reagan.

"I'm as calm as I can be in this situation, ma'am!" Reagan called over the wind, still wrapped around his broom.

The broom suddenly jerked upward again as he got dangerously close to the great stone bridge that led up to the castle.

"Mr. Hammond! Point the nose of the broom _downward! _You are going to crash!_" _She shouted at him.

"I'm _trying_ to! The broom isn't going where I'm guiding it!" Reagan shouted, trying desperately to get the broom to go downward.

The broom still flew forward and was too close to the bridge that he couldn't possibly turn it away. Reagan could do nothing else but close his eyes and wait for the impact.

* * *

[Julia Mal1]Class #3

[Julia Mal2]Class #4


	5. Revelation

"_Shh, shhhhhh, he's waking up!_" Reagan could hear a voice echoing off the walls of wherever he was lying down. He opened his eyes to see Teddy, Lukas, Connor, and Killian, one of Hufflepuff's prefects.

"You alright, Hammond? I heard you had a nasty run-in with a wall," Killian inquired.

"I don't... know... where am I? What happened?" Reagan asked, sitting up a little bit in the cot he was tucked into, taking in his surroundings.

It was a large and open room with high windows, with two rows of cots on either side of the walls. As it was only the first day, there wasn't many students in the Hospital Wing save for a stray third-year who got in a fight with an older student and the befallen transfiguration teacher.

"Hospital wing. Your broom was malfunctioning. Apparently Madam Hooch caught you just in time before you fell after hitting the bridge." Connor said.

"I _fell? _I know I hit the bridge, but everything went dark afterward."

"Yeah, Will said that he saw Madam Hooch swooping right past and picking you up. He said it was one of the coolest things he ever saw." Lukas said.

"Well, I'm glad he enjoyed the show..." Reagan said, rubbing his head. "Where's Matt?"

"Here," Matty said, running in breathlessly, with Shea and Siobhan jogging in behind him. "Hooch told me to go get your cousins."

Siobhan immediately went up to Reagan's bedside. "Reagan! Oh my goodness, are you alright? How on _earth _did you crash into a_ bridge! _The drop is ludicrously high, were you even paying attention?"

"I was! The broom wasn't going where I wanted it to go!"

"Did you pull back like I showed you?" Shea asked.

"I did, it just kept going faster!"

Shea's eyebrows raised. "Really? That's weird. You're _absolutely _sure you leaned back?"

"I know backward from forward. The broom went up in the air when I tried to make it go down, too."

"How peculiar... Hogwarts brooms haven't been _that _temperamental before..." Siobhan said, slightly brought down from her panic, but still confused.

"Unless they've been tampered with, of course," Shea said. "Was the broom acting up the whole time you were down there?"

"Err... not exactly. It was pretty much fine up until I got on."

"Someone could've hexed it," Teddy said.

"Nobody's learned hexes yet, it's only the first day," Lukas replied.

"He's got a point, though," Shea said, then looking to Reagan. "Ray, do you remember seeing anyone who probably shouldn't have been there?"

"Uh... just some older Slytherin," Reagan replied.

"Wait... was it the one that was with that prat Kyle during lunch?" Teddy asked.

Reagan furrowed his brows. "I… think so, yeh."

"It was her! _She _did it!" Teddy exclaimed. "I saw her pointing a wand at you! That no-good toerag sent someone to do his dirty work!"

"Whoa, _whoa! Hey! _Don't jump to conclusions so fast!" Siobhan said sharply to Teddy. "And just who is this Kyle?" She asked, looking at Reagan.

"He's one of the Slytherin first years-I accidentally stepped on his foot on the train yesterday, and I got him pretty mad at me," Reagan said.

"But you said earlier that everything was _fine, _Reagan, you didn't tell me there was someone bothering you," Siobhan said.

"I thought I _was _fine, I thought that he'd just forget about it!"

"You said his name was Kyle-it's not Kyle _Arthur, _is it?" Shea asked.

"It was. Why, is he dangerous?" Reagan asked.

Shea's eyebrows shot up. "Reagan, are you kidding me? I _just _got his sister Evelyn to leave Siobhan alone, now you've gone an' made an enemy out of one of those Arthurs? Do you know what that family does to families like ours?"

"I didn't do anything to make him an enemy! Not on purpose! I stepped on his foot accidentally, but I apologized! And he was teasing _me, _not the other way around!" Reagan shouted.

"Reagan, stop shouting and lay back down," Siobhan said. "You shouldn't over-exert yourself with your head banged up like that. Seamus, quit putting the idea in his head that someone is out to get him. They _aren't. _Even if they were, McGonagall wouldn't let him get hurt."

Reagan laid his head back down and put his hands over face, starting to feel a bit dizzy by a combination of the voices bouncing off the wall, the stale smell of the room, and the overwhelming feeling that he had accidentally made his family's life vastly more difficult because of one small mistake of his.

"But she _did, _someone hexed his broom!" Shea shouted at Siobhan, seeming to disregard his younger cousins

"You don't know that, Shea! You weren't _there. _For all we know it could have been a faulty broom problem!"

Madam Pomfrey came in just then, silencing the twins. "I have to ask you both to leave, you're being far too loud and upsetting the patients," she said. "They can come back once they learn to be quieter."

Siobhan looked angry, but walked out without another word. Shea walked out behind. "See yeh, Ray. I'll check up on you around dinner time. Alright?" 

"Alright," he replied, taking his hands off his eyes.

"At least you can talk to Hilliard now, like you wanted to," Teddy said, gesturing over to the man, who Reagan guessed was the patient who complained about his cousins' noisiness. "And-maybe you could mention something about me saying I'm really, _really _sorry?"

"I guess I could, if Madam Pomfrey says it's alright," Reagan replied. "I'm not sure if I'm allowed to get out of bed. How long do I have to stay here, anyway?"

"Oh, it wasn't a big deal, so she'll probably just keep you overnight and let you out in the morning," Lukas said. "Or let you out early, I'm not sure. You should ask her."

"I'm just glad that Flying was the last lesson and I'm not missing anything," Reagan said.

"Except dinner-Oh man, I'd hate to miss out on dinner. I hope they feed you up here!"

"I'm sure they do, Lukas, it'd be cruel if they didn't," Connor said.

"Yeah, you're right... I think we should get going, let Ray rest for a while," Lukas said, addressing Matty, Connor and Teddy, then heading toward the door.

The boys said their farewells, then sent off for the Great Hall, leaving Reagan to lay in bed and try to piece together why the curly-haired boy from the train hated him on site, and why Shea had such a strong reaction to the news of his one-sided enemy.

* * *

Soon after the boys left, Reagan gladly drifted off to sleep, seeing nothing else that he could do. He was awoken three hours later by the loud sound of someone blowing their nose. He bolted up and looked around the infirmary for the noise, and saw that it was Professor Hilliard, laying two beds away.

Hilliard noticed Reagan looking at him. "Sorry," he said, nose still stuffed up despite blowing his nose so hard.

"No, it's okay," Reagan said, rubbing his eyes. "I probably shouldn't have slept for so long."

"How's your head?" Hilliard asked with a sniffle. "Heard you hit it pretty hard."

"Oh... its feeling loads better, now that I slept a little," Reagan said. "What about you? Teddy was absolutely frazzled when he said that he ran you over. He wanted me to tell you he was really sorry, by the way," he said, eyes set on the cast on Hilliard's leg.

The teacher laughed a little bit. "Was that who it was? I have to admit I hadn't seen who did it before I got knocked out. Not feeling completely normal at the moment, but I think I'll be back on my feet in no time. Tell Teddy I forgive 'im when you get the chance to, since I don't see 'im coming in here if he doesn't half'ta."

"Okay… Is Madam Pomfrey really strict about activity? 'Cause at my Muggle primary school, I remember that sometimes there would be teachers that came in and taught despite that they were sick or had a broken leg."

Hilliard smiled and shook his head. "Muggle school teachers are batty when it comes to their paycheck, I remember that clearly from my days in primary," he said. "But yes, Madam Pomfrey is quite strict about when people should be out and about. In my fifth year I got sent to the infirmary with a stomach flu, and she nearly had me head because I was going to go outside for some air," he said, with a nostalgic sort of tone as he looked out the window.

"Gosh... she won't keep me in here for a long time, will she?"

The man pulled himself up slightly. "Oh, no, I don't believe she will. Not for a small concussion. Think she'll let you out by tomorrow morning," he said with a dismissive tone. Reagan had to wonder why nobody but his cousins seemed to think that a concussion was a big deal, especially since he collided with hard stone and almost fell fifty feet through the air.

"Oh, okay. That's good. 'Cause I don't want to end up missing out on the whole first week."

Hilliard smiled bitterly. "You and I both, kid. Sadly, I haven't got much of a choice."

Reagan looked guilty, despite it not being his fault.

"Hey, it's alright, though. I've had worse things happen to me," Hilliard said quite vaguely, and Reagan couldn't help himself from asking the question that was burning on every first-year students' minds.

"Is it true what they say about you?"

Hilliard gave a frown. "Well, that depends on what they said."

"Err... that you ran away from an orphanage when you were nine, and that-you were, well, a werewolf."

Hilliard nodded, a painful look on his face. "You'd think those kinds of rumors would stop after I became a professor," he said.

Reagan's eyebrows raised. "You mean you've heard them for a long time?" he asked.

"Well, I was the main source of rumors for a while, up until Harry Potter's stunt in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Then I was left alone for a while," he said, shaking his head. "I have to admit, I felt a little bad that he was getting all these rumors spread about him, but I'm glad that they stopped hounding me for a while."

"So... _is _it true?" Reagan asked.

"Oh, err... it's true that I ran away," Hilliard said, then came to a pause. Reagan was eager to hear. "Not a werewolf, though. A Wolf animagus, yes, but not a werewolf. They didn't ever try to hire another werewolf after Remus Lupin in '93. It's far too risky, even _with _the Wolfsbane potion."

Reagan caught the mention of a 'Remus Lupin', and he found the name oddly familiar. Of course he'd heard the name before- he was one of the many people who died in the Battle of Hogwarts-but it was his last name in particular that he found particularly familiar. _Lupin. _Reagan shared a room with a Lupin already, and this Lupin was acting particularly dodgy (like himself) about the mention of parents, when he and the other boys spent half the night staying up and talking instead of sleeping.

And Lupin wasn't exactly a _Jones _or _Smith _type of name, who you could know plenty of and none would be related. No, when you knew a Lupin, much like knowing a Weasley or a Longbottom, the only people you'd be likely to meet with the same last name are people who were related to them.

Now suddenly, Reagan knew why Teddy was so dodgy about the subject of parents; He didn't have any. Just like him.

* * *

The next day, Reagan was feeling as good as new. After his talk with Professor Hilliard, which he continued for at least another half hour or so; Reagan felt like he'd gotten a lot of his questions answered. They continued talking about Animaguses; how Mr. Hilliard had been studying for years under Professor McGonagall to learn how to do it, and how thrilled he was when he received the letter from his former favorite teacher (now the headmaster), saying that she was 'passing the torch' onto him, and talked about how he got the job with only a brief interview. It occurred to Reagan hours later how upset he must be to have to give up his post for a while.

Reagan then confessed to Professor Hilliard that he taught Connor how to change the match into a needle; Professor Hilliard said that he already knew, but Reagan was glad just to get the weight off his chest.

Madam Pomfrey gave Reagan the all clear at 7:45 in the morning. Reagan got up, bade Professor Hilliard farewell, and then sped off to his room quickly to get ready for his first class of the day, Potions. When he went down to the Hufflepuff dormitories, the only boys there were Teddy and Killian, who was waiting impatiently on him. The other prefect took the rest of the first-years over to the Potions classroom, but Teddy was late as he slightly overslept.

"Oi, you feeling better, Hammond?" Killian asked when Reagan came in and went to his dresser to get his uniform on.

"Yeah, loads better. Thanks," Reagan said, buttoning up his shirt.

"I'm going to go get my bag. Don't dawdle, Lupin. _You're not showing up late to Potions,_" Killian said, looking down at Teddy, who was leaning down to tie his shoes. He then turned to go get his bag from the fifth-year dormitories.

"I'm not dawdling_, _you are," he muttered once Killian was out of range. A silence fell over the room as Reagan continued to dress himself and Teddy set to making his hair messier than it already was. After a minute, Teddy spoke up. "So-did you get to talk to Professor Hilliard?"

Reagan looked up from tying his shoes. "Hmm? Oh, yeah. I did. We talked for a while, actually-he said he's gonna be in there for a while and we're getting a replacement," he said, trailing off. He had remembered his train of thought from the previous night, and now he was going to ask about his suspicion. "Hey, Ted?"

"Yeah?" Teddy replied, not looking away from the mirror while he was mussing up his hair.

"How come you didn't tell us that Remus Lupin was your dad?" Reagan asked, and Teddy immediately stopped what he was doing, wide-eyed.

"How do you-"

"Professor Hilliard was talking about him, and I recognized the last name. Why didn't you say anything about them? Your parents?"

"I... didn't think it was important. Besides, it's not like you were gabbing about _your _parents."

"Well... no, but I don't really know much about them. I never met my dad and mum passed away a couple years ago. I told you guys about me cousins and whatnot, but you didn't really talk about any of yours."

"If I told you all about my family, I thought you'd just keep being friends with me because you wanted to meet Harry Potter or something," Teddy said, furrowing his brows. "I didn't want to make friends that way." The statement brought to mind Kyle Arthur, who frequently boasted about his family's status.

"And you wouldn't have," Reagan said. Teddy looked over at him. "We were just talking, trying to get to know each other. We're all still hanging around you and _they _don't know about them. Doesn't have anything to do with who your family is, we just like _you."_

"... Really?" Teddy asked. His normally dark brown hair turned a bright pink color. Teddy didn't seem the type to be caught off-guard by a statement like that, as he had a natural confidence; but he was clearly very embarrassed.

"Yeah," Reagan said, taken aback by the reaction. "You're cool, why wouldn't someone want to be friends with you?"

Teddy's eyes widened. "You think I'm... _cool?" _he asked.

"Why do you sound so surprised? I thought you knew. You _act _like you know."

"Well… not _really. _I haven't really got a lot of friends back in Godric's Hollow-none that are my age, anyway. It's only my cousins who've ever said that I was cool."

Reagan gave Teddy wide grin. "Now you know, then," he said.

"Boys! I _said _not to dawdle!" Killian bellowed from the common room.

"... I'm think we should head out before Killian explodes," Teddy said flatly. Reagan snorted.

"Yeah, that'd probably be best."

* * *

**A/N: HOORAY! We finally come to the first actual Reagan/Teddy moment, where they realize that they aren't all that different from each other when it come to family. They both only know bits and pieces of who their parents were. I also introduce the beginnings of a nice mentorship between Jeremiah (Professor Hilliard) and Reagan. Unfortunately ol' Jer's out of the post for a few chapters, but the replacement will have just as much of an impact on Reagan, albeit quite a negative one. I think this might be the shortest time between chapters, but I suddenly got into a fit of writing Jeremiah.**


	6. The Slug Club

Reagan and Teddy followed Killian to the Potions classroom, and Teddy was mildly irritated with the fact that it was just around the corner from their dormitory, and that he was basically rushed for no reason whatsoever.

"Seriously, they didn't have to go so early! What were they gonna do for twenty minutes?"

"Professor Slughorn takes the ten minutes before the first class of the year to get acquainted with his students, and he does not like his students being late. _So, _I believe it is a good idea to be proactive with our time and get to class early, lest you miss out and are not in his good graces."

"How come he does it before class, why doesn't he do it in class?" Reagan asked, trying to keep up with Killian, who was speed-walking.

"Excellent question, Hammond," Killian said. "Professor Slughorn, as you may or may not know, is a man with many connections. He likes to give his 'prized students' those connections in the Wizarding world. Arriving early to class to talk with him greatly helps your chances. I suppose it could be seen as his way of 'weeding out' those students who are unworthy."

"Oh..." Reagan replied with a slight drooping of his shoulders. He wished he could've been told this earlier.

"Don't worry, though," Killian said. "Coming to the first class early isn't the only thing that improves your chances. There is also familial connections; if you have family that was one of his favorites, that helps, and if you show great promise in your work then he'll likely pick you up."

Reagan's shoulders drooped more at the news. He wasn't sure if anyone in his family was one of Slughorn's favorites, and he _definitely _wasn't sure if he was any good at potions-making.

"All right, we're here. According to your timetable, you have your first Potions class with the Slytherins. Please _try _to behave, Hammond. I don't want to hear of you getting in another argument with that Kyle Arthur again." Killian said as they got to the entrance of the Potions' Classroom.

"_He's _the one that's misbehaving, not me," Reagan muttered.

"Still. Don't take the bait." Killian said, waiting until they went through the door of the classroom to leave.

"Ah! There you are! We were just going around the room and introducing ourselves, so I can get all of your names straight. You two can have a seat," Slughorn said, then his eyes roved over to Holly as Reagan and Teddy sat down. "And what is your name, my dear?"

"My name's Holly Ackerman," She declared proudly, prompting an eye-roll from Lukas.

"Ah! Yes, yes... Killian's younger sister," Slughorn mused. "I was very proud to hear he made prefect. _Terribly _good student, terribly good. And you?" He asked, looking over toward one of the Slytherin.

"Err... Christian DuBois, sir," the dark haired boy said, trailing off at the end.

"Ahh- any relation to the DuBois woman who works in Magical Law Enforcement?"

Christian shook his head. "No, sir... I don't think so."

"Ah, that's a shame... Lovely woman, I've heard. And you boys, who just came in? I daresay you both look awful familiar."

Teddy looked over at Reagan, who shook his head to signal he didn't want to speak first. "Uh... well, I'm Teddy Lupin."

"Ah, Teddy! I knew you looked familiar. You look remarkably like your father. Terribly sorry that he's gone." Slughorn said with a somber tone, prompting Teddy to widen his eyes and look around to see if anyone had recognized the name, but most of the students didn't seem to pay attention; so he settled down. Slughorn then looked at Reagan. "And you, my boy?"

"Ehm, my name's Reagan Hammond."

"Ah! Yes, I've taught a lot of Hammonds over the years. Are you any relation to Niall Hammond?" Slughorn asked.

Reagan raised his brows up high. He was honestly expecting to hear about his cousins, or one of his uncles or aunts. "Yeah, actually. He's... my brother."

"Good gracious! He was a marvelous student, one in my own house. I have to say, you look quite a lot like him. Do you have any idea how he's getting on?"

Reagan's shoulders slunk a little and he shook his head. "No, I don't... I haven't seen him since I was really little..."

"Ah! What a shame. I'm terribly sorry, Reagan. If I ever get word of him, I will make sure to tell you."

Reagan wasn't sure if he actually wanted to hear about his brother; after all, he'd left the family on bad terms, and he didn't think that he could forgive him for doing so. He didn't necessarily want to show his displeasure either, so he just nodded, and took a seat next to Lukas.

"Niall was a Slytherin! Is that why you were defendin' 'em the other day?" Lukas whispered. "I didn't know you had a brother!"

"I don't want to talk about it, Lukas," Reagan muttered, leaning down to get his quill and parchment out of his bag.

Noticing that it was a touchy subject, Lukas left it at that.

* * *

By the end of Potions Class, it was clear which students were going to be the first of Slughorn's 'favorites' between the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins.

Holly proved to be very good at brewing, impressing Slughorn.

Teddy was absolutely appalling, which Slughorn assured that it was a trait that he shared with his father, and he asked him to go sit with one of the Slytherins-Linette Gamble, the first favorite—so she could help him. However, this horrid display Teddy gave did not seem to lessen his opinion of him.

Connor's work was on par with Holly's, which surprised a number of people, including Connor himself.

Reagan's work was not nearly perfect like Holly or Connor's, but it was certainly more passable than Teddy's. Slughorn seemed to appreciate the effort Reagan gave.

Kyle's was about the same as Reagan's, and Teddy thought that the two boys must have had an undeclared competition.

But the most perfect display of potioneering, Slughorn said, was exhibited by Geoffrey Van Houten. And this frustrated Holly to no end.

"I mean, of _course _he'd favor him, he's a _Slytherin! _Mine was just as good as his, and he only gave me a few words! It's because I'm in a house besides his." Holly griped as they were on their way back up to the Great Hall for breakfast after class.

"I think you're overreacting a teeny bit," Lukas said. "Slughorn never favored his own house over the others."

Holly glared at him and wrinkled her nose in distaste. "What?" Lukas asked. "You know it's true."

Holly gave a loud 'Hmph!' and walked away from the group of Hufflepuffs, her nose in the air.

Lukas furrowed his brows in confusion. "She _really _needs to calm down. She got a 'wonderful execution' from Slughorn and she's actin' like it ain't good enough for her."

Teddy shrugged. "Some people are just intense about their grades. I reckon it's a side effect of being an Ackerman."

"What do you mean?"

"Killian was getting on my case for not showing up to class early."

"Oh... what was that all about, anyway? We were twenty minutes early and almost all the Slytherins were there!"

"Some sort of weird initiation, apparently Slughorn is looking for members for his club."

"A club? That's what that was about?" Reagan asked.

"Yep. The _Slug Club. _Y'know how Killian was talking about 'Slughorn's Favorites'? That's basically what it is; a club made up of his favorite students."

"Blimey, and he seemed really interested in both of you! Lucky," Lukas said, as he and the rest of the students crossed the doorway to the Great Hall and went to find seats.

"I wouldn't say it's exactly _lucky, _I think he only wanted me because me brother was one of his favorites..." Reagan said.

"What was up with that anyway, Ray? You seemed really hesitant to talk about him. Did somethin' happen with you two?" Lukas asked.

Reagan furrowed his brow. "He left when I was five years old. Mum really needed him around and he just _left," _Reagan said. "I'm a _wee_ bit upset about that."

"Gosh, I'm really sorry about that, mate," Lukas said. "Promise not to ask again..." He said, then taking his seat at Hufflepuff's table.

"Good," Reagan said, taking a seat beside him and helping himself to the food laid out on the table.

"But... Why _were _you defendin' the Slytherins the other day, they've been nothin' but nasty t'you!" Lukas shouted.

Reagan was mid-bite, and chewed the food in his mouth furiously. "Rukis, rrisen. I defurned thum 'curs I wurdn't warnt to be treated tha' way. I wurs trying to see the good in 'em."

"And look where that got you, that third year landed you in the hospital! I'm telling you, that lot is no good!"

Reagan gulped down some pumpkin juice to wash down his food. "What you're saying right now is _exactly _why they do that kind of thing, Lukas," He said.

"What do you mean?" Lukas asked.

"You paint 'em like they're the bad guy, so they think they gotta act like it," Teddy said. "Reagan's right, in a way. My gran said that back in her day, there were some kids that were terrified of being put in Slytherin, just because people viewed them as bad."

Reagan nodded, "And that's not what they're about, are they? The sorting hat said they're 'ambitious' and 'cunning', but it didn't say 'evil'."

"And people say that Hufflepuff's just a load of duffers, and we ain't duffers, are we?" Teddy added.

"Well... no... I suppose we aren't..." Lukas said.

"We're _not. _Like _they _aren't evil. Just kind of mean," Reagan said.

Teddy rolled his eyes. "_Kind of mean _is an understatement, Ray. They're pretty nasty. But yeah, they're not evil."

"Wurtervrr..." Lukas said, stuffing a breakfast roll in his mouth.

"Anyway..." Teddy said, before taking a bite of his eggs. "Anyone remember what class is next? I left my time table back at the dormitories."

"History of Magic," Matty said, not even looking up from the book he was reading.

"Ah, _naptime, _you mean," Teddy said.

"Wait... you don't seriously have naptime at this school, do you?" Connor asked, incredulously.

Teddy rolled his eyes once more. "No," He said. "I just mean that I've heard that class is dreadfully boring. And they've had the same teacher for the subject for like 100 years."

"What?" Connor asked.

"...He's a ghost."

Connor raised his brows. "Ghosts can be teachers?"

"A ghost is our history teacher. So yes, they can," Matty said.

"Wicked..." Connor whispered under his breath.

* * *

When at last the Hufflepuffs did go to History of Magic, Connor seemed to be the only student hanging onto every word the ghostly Professor Binns said with rapt attention, whereas almost everyone else was either distractedly taking notes like Reagan, or fallen asleep like Teddy.

Once the class was over, all of the students proceeded either to their common rooms, the library, or outside. The Hufflepuffs didn't have another class until Astronomy at midnight, so the five boys chose to sit around in the early September sun.

"Hope the skies stay clear until tonight," Reagan said as he and the other boys sat down in the grass. "It'd be a shame if it was all cloudy during Astronomy."

"It'd be a waste of time, that's what it'd be," Teddy said.

"Seems awful silly that they give us a huge space of time on the second day, but they cram everything into the first," Connor added.

"First days always really full, schedule evens out, though..." Matty said, surveying his time table.

"That reminds me! Who are they going to bring in for Transfiguration tomorrow? Ain't Professor Hilliard still in the infirmary?" Lukas asked, looking to Reagan for confirmation.

Reagan nodded. "Yeah, said he might be in there for a few weeks."

"Aww, no! Hope the replacement is patient like him, though," Lukas said.

The boys continued to bask in the sun for another half hour, then went for a stroll along the grounds. Along the way, they found Shea, who was leaning against one of the walls of the castle and joking with his Hufflepuff friend, Kennith.

"Oi, Ray!" Shea shouted, grinning and raising a hand in greeting. Reagan returned it, and the five boys went over to meet them. "Didn't sneak out of the infirmary, did you? Or did Poppy let you out?" He asked Reagan.

Matty rose a brow, surprised at how casually Shea had said the Nurse's first name.

"Yeah, Madam Pomfrey let me out this morning. She said I was healing really well, just warned that I should probably just sit out of the next Flying lesson," Reagan said with a small sigh.

"I heard what happened, how did you manage to fly into a bridge?" Kennith asked.

"Ken, I told yeh, his broom got hexed. You didn't hear _that? _Come on, you're the Hufflepuff, you should know 'bout this."

Kennith rolled his eyes. "Sod off, you know I rarely spend time there. I'm too busy trying to keep you and the other rejects out of trouble," Kennith said with a smirk.

"Err... what you doin' outside?" Lukas asked.

"Could say the same for you lot!" Shea bellowed at Lukas, an angry look on his face, sending Lukas to cower behind Reagan. After he did so, Shea burst out laughing and—in spite of himself, Kennith had as well.

"_Merlin, _Seamus, I think you made him wet himself!" Kennith said.

Lukas pouted indignantly, blushing a bright red.

"But seriously, why are you?" Matty asked.

Shea gave a shrug. "Ain't got class until midnight. Astronomy."

"Oh! So you've got it tonight, too?" Reagan asked.

"Yeah, they're groupin' the first and second years the first half of class, and third and fourth years closer to midnight. Fifth and sixth are tomorrow," Shea then rolled his eyes spectacularly as he finished with a scoff, "and the _seventh_ years get a night all to themselves."

I didn't know they did that kind of thing," Reagan replied.

"They didn't, 'til recently. McGonagall said there was too much of a 'divide' or whatever between younger students lately. I just think she don't trust us on our own that late at night anymore," Shea said, rolling his eyes.

"That's _your _fault for taking those midnight strolls in the moonlight, mate," Kennith stated.

Ashley had been walking past when he said that. "Midnight strolls? Is he a werewolf?" He asked.

"Get _lost, _Crosby." Shea said with a scowl, and the first-year Gryffindor scurried off. Shea rolled his eyes. "Little weirdo's been followin' me since I got off the train. Aaaanyway, yeah, that _may have _been my fault?"

"Is Astronomy hard?" Reagan asked.

Shea gave a shrug. "Not really, 'least in my opinion. If yeh know what yer lookin' for, then it's a snap," Shea said, snapping his fingers.

"What _are _you supposed to be looking for?" Lukas asked.

"Just stars an' stuff. Y'know. Constellations, planets... space stuff. Basically it's staring at the sky and drawing stars."

"Sounds like my kind of class," Teddy said, nodding.

"Careful with the co-ordinates, though, Sinistra's a toughie with grading the charts."

"Wow, you seem to know a lot about Astrology!" Lukas said.

"_Astronomy," _Shea corrected. "It _is _my best class after Care of Magical Creatures, anyway."

"Does Hagrid still teach it?" Teddy asked.

"Yeh, Hagrid still teaches it," Shea said. "He's a real riot. You know 'im?"

"Yeah, my godfather is good friends with him, he went to school when Hagrid first got the job," Teddy replied.

"Oh yeh? Didn't think anyone really liked him as a teacher, unless your godfather's, like... Harry Potter, or something," Shea said.

"He is," Teddy said with a smirk.

Shea's eyebrows raised. "For _real? _So you must be Teddy Lupin! I'd heard that you were starting this year, but I didn't think you'd end up in Hufflepuff! How in th'hell did you end up with the badgers?"

Teddy shrugged. "Apparently mum was a badger, which might have something to do with it. The hat said I was more like her than my father, he was a Gryffindor."

"Huh. Well, how 'bout that. Nearly everyone was betting Gryffindor from what I know," Shea said.

Teddy shrugged. "Yeah, everyone in my family was, 'cept grandmum. She was betting Slytherin. I don't mind Hufflepuff, though. It's right by the kitchens, apparently."

"Speaking of the kitchens... ain't it going to be dinner soon? I'm _starving," _Lukas said.

"You _always _are. No idea how, you eat Professor Hagrid's weight in food," Matty said.

"Oi! Don't go insulting Hagrid like that!" Shea shouted.

"I think dinner _is _starting soon, we should head back up to the castle," Reagan said quickly, grabbing Matty's arm, wanting to get away before Matty made Shea angrier.

Matty rolled his eyes and jerked his arm out of Reagan's grip. "Fine. But _don't touch me," _He said, and started tromping up the hill.

Reagan and the other boys followed behind him, and the Hall was somewhat quieter than it had been that morning, save for Ashley who was chattering to his very reluctant listener, Morgan. Reagan was watching them, but couldn't make out exactly what he was saying over the din of other people's hushed conversations. Ashley seemed to be getting quite heated up about whatever it was, though, as if Morgan was quietly arguing against him. Reagan was pulled away from his daze when Lukas waved a hand in front of his face.

"Hellooooo? Earth to Ray? What _are _you staring at?" He asked.

Morgan got up and left, possibly fed up with trying to reason with his friend about whatever they were fighting about. Reagan looked back over to Lukas. "Oh, uh... nothing."

* * *

**A/N: Edited as of 6/6/15. I have the classes set up in a way so each of the Houses kind of rotates. For instance, Hufflepuffs have Potions with Slytherins in this chapter, then they will have it with Gryffindor, and then with will have it with Ravenclaw. This way, the students spend time with each house equally.**


	7. The Substitute

**A/N: Chapter was edited as of 5/12/15, as the dates are closer to that of September 2008 despite it actually taking place in September 2009.**

* * *

After dinner, the boys went back down to their dormitory to retrieve their telescopes and spent their remaining couple hours wandering around the upper levels of the castle and trying to find where the Astronomy tower was. Before the class was permitted to go upstairs with their telescopes, they had to wait for Professor Sinistra to come in and introduce herself and the curriculum to the First Years.

"Good evening, students," Professor Sinistra greeted as she strolled into the classroom. "Welcome to Astronomy, the study of outer space, which is not at all to be confused with Astrology, which is a discipline that falls under the subject of Divination," Sinistra stated, looking stern.

"In this class we will be exploring the chemistry and physics of celestial objects, making note of any oddities, and graphing coordinates.

As you all are first years, I will be sticking with a fairly simple curriculum of establishing the names of planets and constellations, as well as making star charts. However, should you continue Astronomy until your final two years in this school, the workload will increase to include study on the chemistry of planets. Are we clear?"

The students all nodded mutely.

"Good. Very good. Now will all of you proceed to the balcony? First years first, please. I will be assigning groups next class, but for now we'll just be getting a feel for the sky. Second and Third years, read the pages that I have written on the board," She said, flicking her wand to the blackboard, which now had the pages the older students were meant to read from their textbooks.

The Hufflepuff and Gryffindor first years followed Sinistra up the steep steps leading up to the Astronomy 'classroom'.

"Now, have you learned the names of the nine planets in our solar system?" Sinistra asked.

Holly's hand shot up at once.

"Yes, Miss Ackerman?"

She started running the names off. "Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars,-" Sinistra held up her hand to halt her.

"Yes, very good, dear. Does anyone else?" She asked, looking around.

Reagan, very slowly and hesitantly, raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Hammond?"

"Well… I remember Jupiter and Saturn," He said.

"Excellent," Sinistra said. "Anyone else?"

Teddy raised his hand.

Sinistra nodded to him, "Mr. Lupin."

"Uranus, Neptune, then… Pluto, but Pluto's not classified as a planet anymore."

Sinistra raised her eyebrows. "Is that so? Bloody muggles, always changing these classifications. Ridiculous," She muttered under her breath.

The other four Hufflepuff boys looked impressed with Teddy, but he just smirked and shrugged.

"Good. Those of you who have not remembered the planets names, do try to. Now, let us go to our telescopes and begin mapping the stars."

The first years went to work on their star charts, and when class was dismissed for them so the second years could take their place, the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff prefects came to escort them to their dormitories for the night.

"So how'd you all like it?" Hufflepuff's female prefect, Brigid Smith, asked the first years. "Find it interesting?"

Reagan nodded. "I thought it was pretty interesting... it was a bit difficult to follow along though, I'm so sleepy..."

"Yeah, the first night's always tricky, you get used to it over the years, though," Brigid said, smiling back at Reagan. "Luckily it's only once a week for you."

"Oh, that's good... I'm not sure if we should be staying up this late all the time."

"Yes, I agree with you. I believe the school thinks that way as well, that's why you only have one Astronomy class a week, and why McGonagall is so strict about you staying in bed. She's not trying to be unfair, having your curfew early, she only wants you all to get to sleep early because she realizes classes the next day are early in the morning."

"I hadn't thought of it like that..." Reagan admitted.

Brigid smiled. "I don't believe any eleven year old thinks of it that way. I remember I used to sneak out after curfew every once in a while when I was your age because I wanted to explore the castle while it wasn't crowded with students."

"Brigid, don't give them ideas," Killian warned. But it was too late, Teddy already heard and seemed piqued with interest at the prospect.

Brigid rolled her eyes. "Oh, lighten up, Killjoy," She said, eliciting several laughs from the group of kids, namely Teddy and one of Hufflepuff girls, Mary Savage. Holly shook her head at the two in disapproval. "I highly doubt they're all going to band together and break out of their rooms late at night."

Killian's ears colored bright red, thankfully for him unnoticeable in the candlelight which they were walking in. "_Don't _call me Killjoy. You know I hate that nickname."

"If it makes you feel better, Killy," She said.

Killian furrowed his brows and grumbled in annoyance, then remained quiet the whole rest of the trip down to the Hufflepuff dorm rooms.

The first class of the day was Charms with the Ravenclaws, which both the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws went to together immediately after breakfast.

As the two houses were leaving the Great Hall, Siobhan pulled Reagan aside by the sleeve of his robes. "Hey! What are you…?" Reagan started indignantly, turning on Siobhan with brows furrowed. His face softened. "Oh, Siobhan... You could have called my name, you know."

"Yes, I'm sorry. I need to ask a favor of you, Reagan," Siobhan said, letting go of his sleeve.

Reagan looked over her shoulder to his classmates leaving. "Ask quickly, I don't want to be late," He said.

"Very well. You know Elsa, right? Small girl, she's in your year?" Siobhan asked.

"Yes, I know her..." Reagan replied.

"Well... she was crying last night, and she told me that the other kids were beginning to tease her," Siobhan said.

Reagan nodded, eyebrows raised high.

"I... really hate seeing her looking so miserable... and I'd defend her if I could, but most of this abuse is from first years, and I can't be around all the time..."

Reagan looked over her shoulder again.

"Well, I suppose what I'm trying to ask is, could you maybe... watch out for her? You know, stick up for her if someone starts picking on her? She hasn't really made friends with the other first years, Ravenclaw or not, I think she really needs someone her age to call a friend. Could you do it?"

Reagan thought it over, scratching his head. "Well... I suppose I could." He said.

"Thank you! I promise she's a lovely girl, just needs to... be brought out of her shell is all. I'm sure you can do just that, Reagan," Siobhan said with a smile.

Reagan smiled back. "I'll try my best," He said, then going to catch up with the other kids who went to the Charms classroom.

"Hey, Elsa!" Reagan called, running after the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, Elsa heading up the line. She was just reaching the steps to the second floor when Reagan called, startling her into jumping.

"Sorry," He said, panting.

"I forgive you," She said, quite softly. Reagan hadn't heard her speak before, but that was exactly the voice he was expecting.

"Alright, good..." Reagan replied, catching his breath. "So, Siobhan told me that some other kids started teasing you?"

Elsa furrowed her brows a little bit. Reagan wasn't sure if it was because Elsa had said that in confidence to Siobhan, or she was just displeased with the memory. She nodded.

"Well, she asked me to watch out for you, stick up for you, if I can."

Elsa raised her eyebrows high.

"I don't like to disappoint, so I'm going to do just that. I can't be around all the time, of course, but I'll help whenever I can."

Elsa gave a small smile. "I'd like that very much," She said.

Reagan smiled back. "Good. Let's get to class, then. You can sit with me when we get there," He said, then the two of them followed behind the rest of the students.

Reagan sat down beside Elsa when they got to the classroom, and Lukas and the other Hufflepuff boys seemed puzzled with this arrangement.

"Good morning class!" Said wheezy, tiny Professor Flitwick. "Welcome to Charms class, I am Professor Flitwick, but I am sure you remember me from the other day!" The professor said with a smile. "I don't believe I introduced myself, though. Terribly sorry."

"I don't remember him..." Mary admitted to Connor, who she was sitting beside.

"Ahem! So, Charms differs from Transfiguration-other than the obvious not changing of one thing to another- in that while you do cast spells like in transfiguration, the spells cast in this class have a particular effect on the object it is being cast upon," Flitwick explained. "For instance, Wingardium Leviosa, the levitation charm. This is the first enchantment that I will teach you, but first we need to practice our motions. Motions are very important for the spell, as is pronouncing the spell right. When you do not say it correctly there tends to be mishaps. Some more serious than others. In '91 I had a student how somehow set fire to the feather he was supposed to be levitating."

The students followed Flitwick as he demonstrated the proper 'swish and flick' technique for several minutes, and then worked on pronunciation. Once they had finished that, Professor Flitwick let them start trying to levitate the feathers he had set on each students' workspace.

"Please do your best to keep everything I've told you in your mind as you are doing this. Proper pronunciation, proper movement."

So the classroom was filled with many chants of 'Wingardium Leviosa', which all overlapped because of the number of students. Some were calm, had very measured tones, and others were extremely impatient.

When Reagan looked over to Elsa, she seemed to have some trouble trying to get her feather in the air. He had no problem doing it, and he didn't think Elsa would have had any either, especially given the fact that she had no reason to be nervous of Flitwick, since he was her Head of House. "Hey, are you having trouble?"

Reagan had apparently caught her in the middle of a barely audible spell, which didn't seem to be getting her anywhere. "Uhm, yes..."

"Give it another shot, let me see," Reagan said.

"Okay..." Elsa said, then turned back to her feather. Again she flicked and swished her wand, "Wingardium Leviosa," She said very quietly as she did so. The feather didn't budge.

"Well, you're holding your wand the right way, I think... I think you need to speak up, though. Listen, like this," He turned to his feather, which was lying on the table again. "Wingardium Leviosa," He said somewhat loudly. The feather started floating again. He looked back over to Elsa. "Now you try, loud and clear."

"Okay..." She said, then took a deep breath and cleared her throat. Again she flicked and swished her wand, saying clearly, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The feather immediately lifted off the ground and a smile came to Elsa's face. "I did it!"

"Bravo, Miss Andrews!" Flitwick said. "Ten points to Ravenclaw!"

"He helped me," Elsa said, looking over to Reagan.

"Very well," Flitwick said, smiling. "Five points to Ravenclaw, and five for Hufflepuff for Mr. Hammond's helpfulness. Does that sound fair?"

Elsa nodded with a smile. "Yes, that sounds fair," She said.

Reagan was slightly surprised that she spoke up about him helping. "Wow, thank you," He said.

"You helped. It's fair," Elsa said with a resolute nod. Reagan smiled.

"So who was that girl you were helping in Charms?" Lukas inquired as the boys walked outside to the Herbology greenhouses.

"Oh, her name's Elsa... she's in Siobhan's house and she wanted me to look out for her if she got teased," Reagan said.

"Huh. Then why were you sitting with her?"

Reagan shrugged. "I thought it'd be a nice thing to do. She's usually all by herself when she's not with Siobhan."

"So? Who cares?" Teddy asked.

"Well... I do. Being alone isn't very fun," Reagan replied.

"So you're just going to pity-" Teddy started to say, before Shea roughly shoved past him, storming his way to the area which held the Care of Magical Creatures class, looking absolutely livid. Teddy held his arms out, with his eyes wide to communicate his annoyance at being shoved, but Shea didn't look back to apologize.

Ashley met up with the Hufflepuff boys, Morgan trailing behind somewhat. "Hey, Reagan! D'you hear that Shea already got in trouble with the new Transfiguration teacher?" He asked.

"No, I didn't know. Do you know who's teaching, anyway?" Reagan asked.

Ashley shrugged. "Not a clue. But whoever it was, Shea got really cross with him. Started yellin' at 'im, even. So the teach gave him detention an' said that if he ever attempted anythin' like that again, he'd expel 'im and tell your—er, his parents about how he was misbehavin'."

Teddy's eyebrows raised. "Shoot, sounds pretty tough... Don't we have Transfiguration after Herbology?"

Connor nodded, looking worried. "Yeah, we do..."

"Well, I guess here's to making the best of our time with Professor Longbottom," Teddy said.

"Good morning, class," Professor Longbottom greeted.

"Good morning, Professor," The class chimed in unison.

"Today is going to be another lecture day," Longbottom said, and the class groaned. "Yes, I know, it's dull, but I can_not _let you all try to handle this plant without telling you about it first."

Teddy raised his hand.

"Yes, Teddy—er, Mr. Lupin."

"What plant are you lecturing us about?"

"Excellent question, and I was just going to get to it. The subject of our lesson today is the Venomous Tentacula. As the name suggests, it is highly venomous, and I am only showing you this plant so you know what you should do if you run into it. I must ask that you stay back, though. Its vines are mobile, and they will try to grab and bite you, injecting their poison into you."

The students somehow seemed to be gripped by this description, and listened intently as Professor Longbottom continued lecturing them about the plant.

Once the lecture was over, the Hufflepuff students made the trek back up to the castle for Transfiguration, their final class for the day.

Connor seemed to be especially filled with dread about the new professor taking over Hilliard's post. "He didn't really... sound very patient from what Ashley said..."

"Shea was _shouting _at him, though. Anyone would lose their patience because of that," Reagan said. "It'll be fine, don't worry."

"I really hope so," Connor said as they made their way into the castle and into the Transfiguration classroom, where the teacher was getting ready for the next lesson, irately.

And who Reagan was faced with when he turned around made him stop dead in his tracks and widen his eyes. Although he did not look exactly the same as the day he had left him and his mother six years ago, Reagan recognized him all the same. It was his older brother. "Niall?" He asked, looking dismayed.

The teacher looked at him dead in the eye, an expression of disbelief and annoyance covering his face. "...Reagan. That's _Professor Hammond _to you."

Reagan didn't seem to be the only person who was shocked; the other boys stared at the substitute, mouths hung slightly open.

"Don't just stand there like idiots. _Sit down." _The young professor said sternly. The Hufflepuff boys scattered at once to their seats, Reagan looking especially upset. The rest of the Hufflepuffs, and soon after, the Slytherins, trickled into the classroom and Niall proceeded to start his first lesson.

"Good afternoon, class. I am Professor Niall Hammond," He wrote his name on the blackboard. "I will be substituting for Professor Hilliard for a few weeks while he is in the infirmary," He sighed and sounded incredibly put-upon with this phrasing, as if he was lamenting the misbehavior of some small child.

"Until then, we will be doing things differently. You are going to complete these lessons _by yourself, _and you are not going to help another student. If they fail, they fail. If I see a student trying to pick up the slack of another, points will be taken away. If you talk out of turn, points will be taken away. If you are _late, _points will be taken away. Do you understand?" He asked the students.

Half of the students looked terrified but nodded, and the other half were stony-faced. Every student in this classroom knew that this substitute was the brother of Reagan Hammond, and he was absolutely certain their immediate dislike of this teacher would cross over to him, regardless if they had liked him already.

"Good. Where did Mr. Hilliard leave off?" He asked.

Seeing that nobody else wanted to answer and kept their hands down, Reagan volunteered, raising his own hand.

"Anyone?" The Professor asked, while staring straight at Reagan. Kyle and his friends laughed. Holly raised her hand and Reagan put his down, defeated. "Yes?"

"He left off at the Match to Needle spell."

"How many of you successfully completed this spell?"

Nobody raised hands, save for a very smug Cameron Blair, who a very annoyed Kyle sneered at.

Connor nudged Reagan, who was moping. "What..." Reagan said.

"Raise your hand," Connor replied.

"I didn't do it, though," Reagan said.

"You pretty much did, it was just my hand," Connor said. "Come on, go ahead."

Reagan sighed and raised his hand.

"You may not go to the restroom, Reagan," Niall answered the question he assumed was to follow.

Most of the class laughed, and Reagan's ears were tinged bright red; embarrassed.

"No—he completed the spell successfully," Teddy cut in, knowing what Connor intended to do.

"That's no _sir, _Lupin. Don't think that just because you're the godson of the _Chosen One, _you get to swagger in here and disrespect me. You don't get that privilege."

Teddy grit his teeth. "_Sir, _he completed the spell successfully. You shouldn't disrespect him."

"I highly doubt it. I didn't see him do it first-hand, how do I know he isn't lying through those crooked little teeth of his, hmm?" Reagan covered his mouth, looking hurt.

"He's _not _lying! He helped another student and you should encourage that, not tell them not to do it!"

Teddy shouted, standing up from his seat. His hair went a violent shade of red.

"_Don't _raise your voice at me, Lupin, and _don't _tell me how to run my class!" Niall retorted, gritting his teeth and slamming his hands on the desk, stooping so he was eye to eye with Teddy.

"It's not _your _class, you're a substitute! And a _bully!" _Teddy shouted back.

"That's _enough, _Lupin," The teacher said, straightening back up. "Fifteen points from Hufflepuff for talking out of turn, disrespecting the teacher and disrupting the class."

"That's not fair!" Lukas exclaimed.

"Is that so? Another five points from Hufflepuff, for talking out of turn," The teacher stated, then turned to Connor Bailey, who was looking incredibly guilty. "Another five for getting another student to do your work for you."

He then looked to Reagan, who was visibly shaking, meeting his older brother's gaze with a look of sheer terror. "And _you," _He paused. "Ten points from you, for completing the work of another student and not your own, and for addressing the teacher informally."

Matty shook his head, looking disgusted. "Should I take points from you as well, Autberry?" He asked.

Matty looked over to Reagan, who shook his head, not wanting Matty to get in trouble as well. "...No, sir."

"'Right then. You four," He looked to the four other Hufflepuffs. "As long as _I _am the teacher of this class, you will be in detention, every Friday night, 8 o' clock, in the dungeons. Am I clear?" He asked. The boys didn't say a thing. "I _said, am I clear?" _He repeated trough grit teeth.

"Yes, sir," The replied.

"Good. Now. I do believe I have a lesson to teach, so _shut your mouths _the whole remainder of class, or I will be forced to take more serious actions with you."

The boys nodded mutely, and the professor retaught the Needle-to-Match lesson.

Once the class finally departed from their final class of that day, they retired back to the Hufflepuff dorms to drop their stuff off and go to lunch. "Your brother's a right prat, Ray," Teddy said as they were walking. Reagan recognized it as a futile attempt to get him to feel better. Reagan didn't reply, still looking ashamed and stricken after what had happened.

"Yeah, Ray, he's really nasty. I see why you'd be so angry with him," Lukas agreed. Reagan still didn't speak up.

"Really unreasonable, too, why would someone make a rule that students can't help one another?" Connor piped in. Reagan didn't reply, looking down to his feet as they neared the dorms.

"You want to go get lunch, Reagan?" Lukas asked, trying to get a look at Reagan's face.

He shook his head sadly. "M'not really hungry..." He said, voice heavy as if he was going to start crying.

"You sure?" Teddy asked, tapping out the rhythm on the barrel to the entrance. Reagan didn't speak again, only nodded. "Alright, if you're sure... we'll see you later then, Ray." The boys deposited their bags in their room, but Reagan walked over to one of the couches sitting by the fire, and curled up on it.

The boys left him alone when they went out for lunch, and as soon as he knew they were gone, he started sobbing.


	8. Teasing

**A/N: Edited as of 5/12/15, as I noticed the dates are closer to September of 2008, despite the story taking place in September of 2009.**

* * *

About twenty minutes after the boys left for the Great Hall, someone came into the Hufflepuff common room. Reagan didn't even have the energy to move away and hide; he simply sat in his spot on the couch, gazing into the fire and sniffling, eyes still puffy and red from crying.

"Reagan?" The other person asked as they walked over, and upon looking up, Reagan recognized it was Kennith, one of Shea's friends. Reagan was familiar enough with him; aside from him and Shea being inseparable at Hogwarts, they were good friends outside of school too. "Have you been crying?"

"Yes..." Reagan replied, rubbing his eyes.

"Why?" He asked, sitting down on the other couch by the fire.

"It's the new Transfiguration teacher..." Reagan said, sitting up a bit.

"Oh... right, Hamish had a class with him this morning. Sounds like a terrible man."

"He was... and he's my brother," Reagan said.

Kennith raised his eyebrows. "Really? I had no idea you had a brother. Shea said that you were on your own when your mum passed away."

Reagan nodded. "I was. He left when I was little..."

"I'm so sorry... what'd he do in class that made you so upset?" Kennith asked.

Reagan's lip quivered a little. "Well... when I raised my hand to answer a question, he ignored me... and then when I raised my hand again to answer that I did the spell correctly, he started making fun of me..."

Tears pricked at his eyes again. "Teddy tried to defend me and then he yelled at him, and Teddy got in trouble..."

He sniffed. "And then Lukas tried to defend Teddy and he got in trouble... And then Connor got in trouble because I helped him last class, and I got in trouble because of it too..."

He covered his eyes and started crying again, voice heavy with emotion. "And Shea got in trouble too, and it's all my fault, I just know it is!" He sobbed.

"Hey..." Kennith said, moving over to Reagan's spot. "It's not your fault. If it's anyone's fault, it's _his, _you hear? He shouldn't have made fun of you. That's not fair for anyone to do, _including_ a teacher. Hell, _especially _a teacher."

"But they're all in trouble because of me... they're all mad at me."

"You don't know that, Reagan. And even if they were, they'll forgive you, they'll understand."

"Why would they?"

"They're your _friends. _You may have only known each other for a few days, but I know they'll understand. That's what friends _do. _And it isn't all your fault, it's the teacher's."

Reagan only replied with a small sniff, taking his hands off his face and rubbing his eyes.

"Come on, you've cried yourself dry by now. I'm sure you're hungry, ey?" Kennith asked.

Reagan replied with a nod.

Kennith grinned at him. "Let's go up and get lunch, then," He said, standing up and waiting for Reagan to do the same. Reagan got up, and Kennith started walking toward the Great Hall, Reagan tailing behind.

"Hey Ken?" Reagan asked.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

Kennith grinned again. "No problem, squirt."

When Kennith and Reagan got to the Great Hall, Reagan walked over to the spot where he usually sat next to the other boys very timidly.

Lukas looked back to see him and grinned widely. "Hey, Reagan! I saved you a seat. You okay? You look like you've been crying-"

"Luke," Teddy interrupted, and Lukas looked over at him. Teddy shook his head.

Reagan chose to disregard the last thing Lukas said. "Yeah, I'm okay. Listen, I'm really, _really _sorry I got you guys in trouble."

"Nonsense!" Teddy exclaimed, giving a wry grin. "Don't worry about it. You didn't do anything wrong. It was a lose-lose situation. He just would've kept bullying you."

"I don't think he's going to stop, Teddy..." Reagan said with a frown.

"Well... it was still worth a shot."

Reagan just heaved a sigh, sitting down and helping himself to some food. "Thanks for trying, I guess..."

"Like I said, don't worry about it. It's just detention, anyway. I don't think he can do anything worse than making us clean."

"I'm more worried about Killian than anything. I just know that brown-nosing little sister of his ratted us out, he's going to be furious," Lukas claimed.

"I doubt he'll be _furious, _but Macmillan will. He hates Slytherins more than Luke loves food," Matty said.

"I hope he knows it's all his fault we're in this mess. If he hadn't gotten Hilliard sick, he wouldn'tve been out of the job-" Teddy said.

"Alright, I think we should stop talking about this. Let's just eat," Reagan said.

"I'm all for that," Lukas said, cutting himself a piece of ham.

"Yeah, stuff yourself while you can, Gallagher," Kyle said with a sneer as him and his group of older Slytherins walked past. "Wouldn't want you to pass out from starvation during detention."

Lukas glared at him, and stuffed the ham in his mouth angrily, not saying a word.

"That was a fun little family reunion, wasn't it, Hammond?"

"Just shut up for once, Arthur. He's not in the mood," Teddy said.

"I wasn't talking to you, werewolf boy," Kyle told Teddy with a smirk, and Teddy looked thunderous. "You reckon he was dead as well, Hammond? Is that why you looked so surprised? Wee wittle awphan boy thought evewyone was gone and they didn't wuv him?"

Reagan tried not to take the bait, eating his food silently and not looking up at him.

"Well, it looks like he doesn't love you _either, _reject. How does that feel, knowing your own family doesn't even l-"

"That's enough," A voice said from behind Kyle, who looked behind to see who it was. It was Shea. His arms were crossed over his chest and he looked furious.

Shea loomed over Kyle, but as Kyle had his backup, he was not afraid. "Oh look, it's the other werewolf to the rescue. You must feel right at home with these mangy dogs, isn't that right, Hammond?"

"I said _that's enough,_" Shea repeated himself, then taking him by the collar and raising a fist to him. Kyle looked visibly afraid now, eyes wide open and trembling slightly. Reagan's eyes also widened in surprise. "All I've heard from you is insults about my little cousin, and I'm _sick of it. _He's done nothing to deserve this, so _leave him alone. _If you don't knock it off, I'll knock the rest of those baby teeth right out of your skull. Am I clear?"

"Yes, yes, you're clear!" Kyle said in a panicked tone. Kyle's friends did nothing.

"Good. Now get lost," Shea said, roughly shoving him away.

Kyle stumbled backward, then scrambled up to his feet again, darting away for the Slytherin table.

"God, what a pest," Shea muttered. "I don't think he'll be bothering you anymore, Ray. And if he does, just give 'im hell."

"I thought you wanted me to leave him alone!"

"I did, but he's clearly not leaving _you _alone, and that gives you every right to retaliate."

"But what about his parents, you said they could-"

"To hell with them. The little snot is _not _going to get away with treating you like shit for no reason. You hear?"

"I hear..."

"Good. And boys," He looked toward the other first-year boys. "You _really _don't need to get caught up in this. It's between his family and ours. I don't want you all getting in trouble as well."

Teddy and Lukas looked guiltily at each other.

"Uhm..." was Lukas' quick reply, before stuffing more food in his mouth so he wouldn't have to explain.

"About that..." Teddy muttered, rubbing his neck.

Shea rolled his eyes. "You have _got _to be kidding me? What did you do?"

"Well, it's nothing to do with Kyle, but me and Lukas and Connor _and _Reagan got detention," Teddy explained.

Reagan didn't pull his eyes off his meal.

"Which teacher?" Shea said, an eyebrow raised. The boys looked at each other, but no one confessed.

"Niall," Reagan said quietly.

Shea's eyes widened and he looked furious yet again. "That no good—he put _you _in detention, Reagan? _You? His own brother?"_

"I don't need to be reminded!" Reagan shouted, finally looking at Shea.

"How the _hell _did you end up getting a detention?"

"Because I helped Connor, he said," Reagan said.

"... How the hell would that warrant a detention, you were jus' helping!"

"I guess he didn't want me doing that. It doesn't matter now, I still have to go to the detentions, even if they _are _unfair."

"You have more than one?!" Shea questioned, and Reagan shied under his loud voice.

"Yes... he said as long as he's teacher, me, Teddy, Lukas and Connor have detention every Friday night."

"He can't _do that! _He's a _substitute! _Ray, you have to see the headmaster about this, it isn't fair! He's abusing his authority!" Shea shouted, slamming a hand on the table.

"Reagan has to do _what?" _Siobhan asked, coming over behind Shea.

Shea was startled at the sound of her voice. "_Merlin, _Siobhan," He exclaimed, raising a hand to his heart. "Don't sneak up on me like that. He has to see the headmaster. The new transfiguration teacher punished him for _helping a student. _He _punished _him._"_

"He _punished _him?"

"Yeh. An' get this: the new teacher is _Niall. _Good-for-nothing finally decided to come back, only to put his own brother in detention until Hilly gets back."

"I know its Niall, I had a class with him this morning. But he _punished_ you, Reagan?"

"Yeah..." Reagan trailed off. "He made fun of me when I said I'd already completed the assignment and he yelled at me and th'other lads when they defended me."

"Don't it just break your heart? Siobhan, this is _terrible. _We can't let him treat Reagan like this, it's not fair."

"You think going to McGonagall is going to stop him, though?"

"I do. And there's not much of a choice of what we could do anyway."

"Shea, it's okay. It's my fault, you don't have to go to McGonagall," Reagan piped up.

"_I'm _not. _You _are. His punishing of me was kinda warranted. I screamed at him. But to _you, _he was completely unfair, so you ought to report that behavior," Shea said.

"But… he _just _got the job… he'll hate me even more if I make him lose it," Reagan replied.

"He's not going to lose his job, Reagan. Students have reported teachers before and that didn't happen," Siobhan said. "It's just so the headmistress is aware that there is a problem with the teachers, and she can tell them to correct themselves. If they _don't, _that's how they lose their job."

"Okay… but when should I go? I have detentions every Friday night," Reagan said.

"We'll go on Monday morning, after class," Teddy said. "McGonagall's office is closest to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. I'll show you the way."

"Right, so that's settled. Now, please promise you boys will behave," Siobhan said.

"Promise," Reagan said, Lukas and Connor following suit. Teddy said nothing, but nodded.

"And _you," _Siobhan turned to her twin. "I don't ever want to catch you threatening a younger kid, even if you are defending Reagan. I _refuse _to be associated with a thug who beats on younger children."

"Merlin, Siobhan! I wasn't even goin' to _do _anything to the kid! Lighten up!" Shea said, walking back over to the Gryffindor table.

Siobhan rolled her eyes at her brother's exit. "Goodnight, Reagan," She said, hugging him from behind. "Goodnight, boys. Remember. Best behavior." She repeated, then went back to the Ravenclaw table for the duration of dinner.

Reagan and his friends went down to the Potions classroom in the dungeons to wait for Professor Hammond's instructions on what they were to do for detention. Upon entering, there was many more students than he expected. While Reagan knew that Shea was supposed to have detentions, he also saw Shea's friends Hamish and Sean, as well as a couple more students.

"Evening, delinquents," Professor Hammond said as he strolled into the classroom with cleaning supplies, that he deposited onto the front table. Nobody spoke, but Shea furrowed his brow and stared at him. "I am pleased that you all showed up. Very good. For this detention, you all will be cleaning the Potions' classroom. That includes scrubbing down the sink, re-ordering the potion ingredients on the back shelves, and scrubbing the floor of excess mess. You are not to leave until I have surveyed the classroom and see that you have done a satisfactory job. Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir," Sean and a couple other students said wearily.

"Good. Now, get to work. I will going over something in my office, don't you _dare _try to leave. I cast an enchantment on the door that will alert me if you do," Professor Hammond said, then leaving the classroom.

"Merlin, he's terrible," Sean said, going over to the front table with the others for the cleaning supplies. "Not that I'm shocked, given he's one of _your _relatives, Shea."

Reagan frowned a little.

"Shut your mouth, Sean, your family's nowhere near perfect, either. I seem to remember a certain older brother who-" Shea started, but was interrupted.

"Right, I'll give you that. But _still. _He's rotten."

"I know. Why else do yeh think I lost my head with him?" Shea said, as he and Sean started working on scrubbing the floor.

"Well, I'unno. What'd you even _say _to get him so mad?" Sean questioned.

Shea glanced over to Reagan, who set to scrubbing the sink. "… I told him that what he did was terrible, leaving Reagan and their mum, and that… err… well… I cursed him out, a lot. Think I sent a jinx on him too? It's a bit hazy, actually."

Sean rolled his eyes. "It's always 'hazy' with you, just own up to it or don't say nothin'."

"Well, what are _you _in for, Galloway?" Shea questioned.

Sean shrugged. "Same ol' thing. Back-sassin' the teacher, feet on the desk."

"You've lost yer touch, Seanny."

"I know, man, I know," Sean said, and continued scrubbing the floor.

"What, do you frequent detentions a lot or something?" Teddy asked.

Sean laughed a little. "I guess you could say that."

"About every other week," Shea muttered.

"Oh, shut your mouth, Hammond, you're usually there with me."

"Why?" Teddy asked.

"Well, I dunno if you know, but Shea's got a bad habit of leavin' the grou—" Sean started.

"No, I mean you."

"Oh. Well, guess I'm a bit of a smart-alec. Can't help m'self when the teachers say somethin' dumb," Sean replied.

"I guess I can understand that…" Teddy said, remembering that he'd got a bit snappy with Professor Binn earlier that day, but the late professor hadn't even noticed.

"What about you, eh? What are you in for?" Sean asked.

"Teacher was making fun of Reagan so I stood up for him. Screamed at him a bit," Teddy replied.

"Ooh, nice," Sean said. "What about you, Ray? Din' take you for the rabble-rousing type."

"I helped a student in a previous class, and I called the teacher by his first name."

"… Oh. Well, then…" Sean trailed off, then looking at Shea again. "Yeah, he's terrible."

"Preachin' to the choir, Sean," Shea replied. "And I'm not lettin' this happen to him again."


	9. Meeting the Headmistress

"Good morning, class," Macmillan greeted as the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor children filed into the classroom.

"Good morning, Professor Macmillan," The children greeted back.

"Did you all read the chapter I told you to read?" Macmillan asked.

Some of the students nodded, others didn't.

"I see some of you did. For those of you who _did, _you should know that starting today we will be talking about Gnomes, and how to combat and prevent them. Today we are going to talk about the physiology of the gnome, and next class we will be learning the Body-Bind curse. Next week I will bring in a Gnome to practice on."

Connor raised his hand, confused.

"Yes, Mr. Bailey?" Macmillan asked.

"Gnomes are bad?" Connor asked.

"Well… that's a good question. I don't think they are bad _per say, _but they certainly are a nuisance. They tend to burrow under gardens and eat the roots of plants," Macmillan said.

"Ohh… alright," Connor said.

"Now, gnomes can be identified by three things, can anyone tell me what they are?"

Holly and a couple other students' hands shot up.

"Yes, Miss Ackerman," Macmillan called on her.

…

"So, gnomes _seriously _look like little potatoes with arms an' legs?" Connor asked the other boys as they emerged from the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"They do," Lukas replied. "Very foul-mouthed potatoes. Nasty little buggers, we get 'em in our yard all the time."

"Huh… I thought they had little pointy hates and fluffy beards, kind of like Christmas elves."

"I kind of thought so too… Teddy, could you show me to McGonagall's office?" Reagan asked.

"Sure thing. We'll catch you later, guys," Teddy said.

"Alright, hope you're able to get it all sorted out!" Lukas said, and walked in the opposite direction with the other boys.

"Right, so, I kinda lied about the Headmistress's Office being close, but I think I might know a shortcut," Teddy said, leading Reagan to the Headmaster's Tower.

"How could you know a shortcut already?" Reagan asked, trying to keep up with Teddy's speed-walk. "We've only been here three days."

"I said I _think _and _might. _I didn't say I did," Teddy said. "Let's just keep moving, or we'll end up missing lunch."

"Alright, fine…" Reagan trailed off. "How do you know where the Headmistress's Office is, anyway?"

"Been in there before," Teddy replied.

"What?"

"Harry has meetings with McGonagall when he does lectures for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and he takes me with him sometimes."

"Oh, that's cool," Reagan said. "So, do you what McGonagall's like? She seemed nice, but I heard from Shea that she's kind of—"

"Intense?"

"Yeah."

"I don't really know her much, but I think intense about sums her up."

Reagan suddenly looked very nervous. "Oh…"

Teddy looked over to Reagan. "Hey, it'll be okay, you didn't do anything wrong."

Reagan let a few moments pass before replying. "I hope so…"

Teddy looked through one of the high windows in the corridor. "Reagan, come on. I see the Headmaster's tower now! It's just a little further," he said, bringing his pace near to a run. "Race you there!"

Reagan rolled his eyes, and shouted ahead to him. "I don't get the point, you'll just have to wait longer until I get there!"

"The point is I'm winning!" Teddy shouted back to him.

Reagan heaved a sigh of resignation, then ran after Teddy.

About 15 minutes later, Teddy finally stopped at the entrance to the Headmistress's office, where a gargoyle stood.

"Did we really have to run all the way here?" Reagan asked breathlessly, hunched over with his hands on his knees.

"Probably not," Teddy replied idly, looking at the gargoyle.

After another moment, Reagan stood upright, and looked at the gargoyle as well. "So… how do we get past that?"

"Need a password," Teddy said, still not looking away, but now having a thoughtful look on his face.

"… _What?!" _Reagan shouted. "You mean we came all this way and we need a _password?!" _

"Would you keep your voice down?" Teddy asked. "I think I know the password. Erm… let me think…"

Reagan sighed.

"The last time I was here it was _chocolate frog, _but that was last year… she does have these biscuits in her office that she likes a lot..."

"Biscuits? Why would the password have to do with biscuits?" Reagan asked. "Or chocolate frogs?"

"I don't know, it's a headmaster quirk or something… what were they? Were they those little shortbreads that looked like Scotties?"

"…Maybe… Ginger Newts?" Reagan said, and to both of the boys' surprise, the gargoyle leapt aside.

Teddy and Reagan looked at each other with brows raised. "Well… that worked," Teddy said. "Come on, let's go up. You won't _believe _this room."

Teddy set foot onto the stairs, and Reagan did the same. The spiral staircase jerked suddenly out of place and ascended, and Reagan had to grip onto the railing so he wouldn't fall. He turned wide eyes to Teddy, who looked at him as if this was a normal part of his day.

The stairs finally stopped at a higher level, and McGonagall saw the two boys from her desk. "Good morning, boys," McGonagall said, standing up. "What brings you to my office?"

"We're here to… ehm… I'm here to…" Reagan stuttered, looking at McGonagall.

"Yes, what is it?" She asked.

"I'm here to… uhm… to report a teacher…" Reagan mumbled, staring down at his feet.

"I beg your pardon? Please speak up."

"Stop mumbling, Ray," Teddy whispered.

Reagan took a deep breath, looking back to McGonagall. "I'm here to report a teacher," he said.

"… Sit down, Mr. Hammond. You as well, Mr. Lupin," McGonagall said, gesturing to the two chairs in front of her desk.

Teddy and Reagan sat down

"I have not had two students come in to report a teacher before," McGonagall said, surveying the two boys. Reagan immediately shied under her gaze. "Especially so early in the year. There had better be a serious issue with this teacher, boys."

Teddy looked at Reagan, who heaved a deep breath. "W-well… it's the new replacement Transfiguration teacher, Professor."

"Ah, Professor—" McGonagall started, but was cut off.

"Hammond. … Niall Hammond." Teddy spurted, then looking sheepish for interrupting the headmistress.

"Yes. Professor Hammond. What is the issue?"

Reagan twiddled his fingers as he tried to gather his thoughts. "Well… when the class started, he called on the students to ask what Professor Hilliard left off on… and… when I raised my hand, he ignored me."

"Is that all?"

Reagan shook his head. "And when he asked which one of us successfully completed the needle-to-match spell, and I raised my hand to show I did… he didn't believe me."

"Well, _did_ you complete the spell?" She inquired, looking over the top of her glasses.

Reagan squirmed in his seat a little. "I wasn't able to, I was helping my partner try to do it because he was getting flustered. Connor said that I deserved credit for helping him, so he said I should raise my hand."

"Is this all that you wished to report, Mr. Hammond?"

Reagan shook his head again, wringing his hands in his lap. "When I told him that I did it, he laughed at me… and when Connor said that I did it, he said that he didn't see it first-hand, so I could be lying…"

"I stood up for him when he said it," Teddy piped up when he saw that the conversation was getting difficult for Reagan. "And when the professor took away points because I talked out of turn, Lukas started shouting about how it was unfair, which got _more _points taken away, then he took more points away from Connor for looking guilty and having other students doing his work—"

"Then took points away from me because I helped him, and because I didn't use his professional name." Reagan finished, looking embarrassed. "I didn't mean to call him by his first name, I was just really, really surprised to see him…"

"He's Reagan's older brother, you know, left him and his mum when he was little—"

"Boys, where is this going? I'm fairly busy."

"I…"

"We thought you should know that one of your teachers is being fairly…" Teddy said, then paused while he tried to think of a suitable word. "er… _discriminamating _against a student."

"That's _discriminatory_, Lupin, and I am afraid that there is not much that I can do," McGonagall said, and Reagan hung his head. "Professor Hammond is the only replacement I had lined up for Mr. Hilliard, I cannot afford to fire him."

"Professor, we're not asking you to fire him," Reagan said.

"Then what is it you're asking?"

"Well… we're asking if you could tell him…" Reagan trailed. "Well, is a replacement allowed to change the rules?"

"If their rule-changing is not beneficial for learning, then no. It's absolutely not allowed."

"Okay…" Reagan twiddled his thumbs. "Could you tell him to… not punish students for helping one another? And that if they need help, they should be able to ask for it?"

"Very well. That can be managed, Mr. Hammond. I appreciate you coming to me about this," McGonagall said.

Reagan nodded, and stood up.

"Mr. Lupin," She addressed Teddy, who didn't stand. Teddy raised his eyebrows slightly. "Did you come along for moral support, or do you have something to ask as well?"

"Oh… I came to show him where the office was, but I do have something to ask," He said.

"Very well," McGonagall said, adjusting her glasses. "What did you want to ask?"

"Well… Reagan didn't really do anything that would be worth a detention in any other class," Teddy started, and a flush creeped up Reagan's neck. "So would it be okay if he doesn't go to the other detentions? It's okay if me and Lukas still do, because we screamed and yelled at the teacher and I said some nasty things, but Reagan and Connor really don't deserve it."

McGonagall raised her eyebrows. "He gave you several detentions?"

Teddy nodded. "He said that as long as he was our substitute, me, Connor, Reagan and Lukas would be in detention."

The woman's eyes opened wide, and she pursed her lips. "I _see. _Boys, you must be off to lunch. I will see to Professor Hammond later on, and get this issue sorted out. Mr. Hammond, you do not have to attend any more of these detentions, and tell Mr. Bailey that he does not have to either. Mr. Lupin, you and Mr. Gallagher will attend one more of these detentions, but nothing more."

Teddy nodded. "Thank you, Professor. Which sounds fair. Me and Reagan will going now."

"McGonagall nodded, then went back to her paperwork. "Good day, boys."

Teddy and Reagan went back down the spiral staircase and headed for the Great Hall, Reagan looking surprised.

"Wow, that was… easier than I expected," He said.

"I told you that you didn't have to be nervous," Teddy said, grinning.

"Are you okay with it, though? Still having to go to detention?" Reagan asked.

Teddy shrugged. "Ah, yeah, it's okay. I know I deserve it," He said.

"You sure?" Reagan asked.

"Definitely. Let's go get lunch now, I'm starving." Teddy replied.

"Alright… but we aren't racing." Reagan said.

"Fine by me, you're slow as molasses, anyway." Teddy said with a smirk.

When the two boys reached the Great Hall, they were greeted by the sight of Lukas, who was grinning broadly and waving them over to the table. Connor was in his usual seat across from Matty, and Holly was sitting nearby, rolling her eyes at Lukas.

"Hey, Teddy! Hey, Reagan, how'd it go?" He asked as the two boys took their seats.

"Well, I think it turned out okay…" Reagan said. "She wasn't as harsh as I thought."

"See, I told you so, Ray," Teddy said, then looked at the other boys. "We even managed to get him off the hook as well."

"What about us?" Connor asked.

"Weeeeeell… we're _mostly _off the hook. We still have to go to detention, but only one more instead of however many weeks it would take for Professor Hilliard to get better."

"Oh, that's good." Connor said.

"So, are you feeling any better, Ray?" Lukas asked. "I forgot to ask you when we were getting ready for class, but you still looked a bit shaken up."

"Hmm?" Reagan hummed, as he sat down and started putting food on his plate. It took him a couple minutes, but he then worked out what Lukas meant. He then turned a frown. "Oh… yeah, I'm feeling better." He said.

"Better about what?" Teddy asked, looking to Reagan.

"Oh… uhm… I had a nightmare last night… I woke Lukas up. I was really shaky for a while, too."

"You did?" Teddy asked, brows raised. "You could've said something, I just thought you were nervous about seeing McGonagall."

"I was… I just-I don't like to talk about it when it happens…" Reagan said, looking down at his plate, blushing. "It's really embarrassing…"

"What happened in it?"

"I don't remember a lot of it, but Niall was in it."

"You sounded scared out of your mind, mate," Lukas said. "I heard you muttering that it was 'all your fault' as well. You sure you don't remember anythin' else?"

Reagan shook his head. "No, sorry. Can we get off the subject, please? I'd like to eat lunch already if you don't mind."

Lukas raised his brows. "Sure, mate. Sure."

"Thank you," Reagan said, digging in to his lunch.

The other boys also dove into their lunches, engaging in conversation while Reagan listened silently.

"Say Ted, I was just wondering…"

"Hmm?"

"I swore I saw your hair turn bright red when you were shouting at the Professor during class yesterday, mate. Tell me that was a trick of the light," Lukas said.

Extremely surprised, Teddy's eyebrows went high up as his hair turned a bright orange. "You _did? _Shoot, I thought I had it under control!"

The other boys eyes widened, save for Reagan's, whose eyes were still trained on his food.

"Bloody hell, so it _wasn't!" _Lukas shouted, pointing at Teddy's hair.

Teddy quickly scrambled to cover his hair. "Would you _stop_ _shouting?"_

"How did you do that with your hair? Did you do a charm on it to make it like a mood ring?" Connor asked.

"Why do you all keep comparing that-"

"No, no, he's a metamorphmagus! Like Tonks, from the Order of the Phoenix!"

Teddy sunk down in his seat, still covering his hair, which was now turning pink.

Lukas eyes opened wider than before as he continued gaping at Teddy. "Oh! Oh! Merlin's pants! She's your mum!"

More people were looking over at the Hufflepuff table to see what the commotion was. Meanwhile, Teddy was trying to disappear under the table.

"Tonks was your mum, and Remus Lupin was your dad! _That's why you've been so dodgy about your family!"_

_"Lukas!" _Matty hissed through his teeth.

"What?" Lukas turned his head to Matty.

"_Stop. Shouting. People are staring."_

"Wha-?" Lukas looked out to the other students, at least a third of them were staring at him. "Uh… oh. Sorry," He said nervously, waving and sitting back down.

The other students went back to their meals, until Lunch was over and the students all scattered to their classes.

"Sorry for shouting, Ted," Lukas apologized as him and the other Hufflepuffs went off to their Potions class. "Didn't know you wanted it kept a secret."

"No big deal," Teddy said, deadpan. "Not like I kept it a secret for a _reason."_

"Well… _fine _then," Lukas said, brows furrowed. "I take it back, if you're gonna be like that."

"Whatever. _I don't care," _Teddy said back to him.

_"Good." _

Reagan heaved a small sigh. He could tell they were going to be like that for a while.

* * *

**A/N: Few days from the new month, but I _did _get a second chapter up, like I promised. Toward the end it got a little bit Teddy-centric, but I'm planning a storyline that requires a little focus on Teddy. So the next chapter will be focused on Teddy and Lukas' fight, while the other three deal with it.**


	10. Betraying Trust (or, The Squabble pt 2)

The boys arrived at the Potions Classroom and went to take their seats, Teddy and Lukas almost sitting next to each other before remembering they were angry at each other.

"Connor, can you trade spots with me? I don't want to sit next to _Blabbermouth McGee." _Teddy said with a disdainful glance at Lukas, who grimaced.

"Err…" Connor looked over at Reagan, who furrowed his brows at Teddy's attitude. "Sure, mate. Sure."

Connor got up from his seat and sat by Lukas, and Teddy circled the table to sit by Reagan.

_"Thank you, _Connor, you're such a good friend, you know that?" Teddy said pointedly.

Connor furrowed his brows in confusion, while Reagan just looked exasperated already. "Err… thanks, I appreciate it."

"Good day, class!" Professor Slughorn trilled as all the students got situated in their seats.

"Good day, Professor Slughorn," the students chanted in unison to varying degrees of sincerity. Teddy's was among the least.

* * *

As the class finished, Reagan walked out with the other Hufflepuff boys, none of whom were talking to each other.

Teddy and Lukas as they were still angry at each other, Connor as he was confused by Teddy's tone when he was talked to, Matty as he couldn't be bothered to start talking with the four other boy, and Reagan as he was now particularly sore that Teddy had gotten him into trouble with Professor Slughorn.

The professor's lesson wasn't a practical lesson, but a theoretical lesson on the Cure for Boils. While Reagan found the topic interesting enough and wanted to focus on it, Teddy seemed bound and determined to distract him from the lesson by whispering to him and trying to get his attention because he was so bored. Normally Teddy would have spent the class chattering with Lukas, but that wasn't an option at present.

"So, do you know Professor Longbottom outside of classes, Ted? I heard someone say that he and Harry Potter were close friends when they went to school here," Connor asked after five minutes of silently walking toward the greenhouses for Herbology.

Teddy glared at Connor. "Shut _up, _Connor_. _I know who my godfather is friends with."

"Oh… okay. Sorry," Connor said, then went back to being quiet.

"… Hey Lukas, can I borrow your Quidditch Across the Ages book? I'm still kinda confused about what it is," Connor piped up again after a couple more minutes of continued silence.

"Connor, would you just do everyone a favor and keep your big mouth shut? You're confused about _everything," _Lukas snapped.

"You don't have to be so _rude _about it, you arseholes!" he shouted, running ahead to the greenhouse.

Neither Lukas nor Teddy looked even a bit concerned that the boy ran off.

"_Look what you did! _Would you both stop being such _prats?" _Reagan exclaimed, then ran off after Connor.

Lukas was thoroughly affronted. "A _prat? _I'm not being a prat!"

"Yes you are. A humungous one," Teddy stated, eyes still looking ahead, unbothered by Reagan's insult.

"You _both _are," Matty finally spoke up, glaring at the two of them. Both Lukas and Teddy looked surprised. "Let us know when you're done fighting like a couple of grannies and make up, I can't _stand _this ridiculous behavior," he said, then speed-walking to catch up with the other boys.

The two boys continued walking in silence, Lukas now looking ashamed of himself.

"Maybe we _are_ being ridiculous," Lukas spoke up as the two boys neared the greenhouses.

"I'm not being ridiculous, I'm reasonably upset," Teddy said dryly as he opened the door for the greenhouse, not bothering to leave it open for Lukas, who was just behind him.

"I said I was sorry! How is it reasonable?" Lukas shouted, pushing the door open.

"And I didn't forgive you. Everyone's going to treat me differently because of what you said, so it's reasonable."

"That doesn't give you the right to snap at our friends!" Lukas said, walking to one of the tables.

"You snapped at them too, and you have no right to be upset," Teddy replied.

"Yes I do, because you won't forgive me!"

"Boys-"

"Show me that they won't treat me different, then maybe I'll forgive you!" Teddy interrupted.

"_Boys-"_

"I don't know for sure that they won't! _I'm sorry!" _

"Boys!"

"Stop _apologizing! _I know you don't mean it!"

"Lupin! Gallagher!" Professor Longbottom shouted once again, finally getting the two boys' attention. "Do I need to tell the headmistress that you're acting out?"

The two boys looked ashamed again. "No, sir…"

"Please behave, then. Go find a table and be quiet," Longbottom said, pointing the tables lined up in the greenhouse.

"Yes, sir," the boys said in unison, going to sit at opposite sides of the table.

"Good. Today is your first assignment. It requires team work, so you all are going to be working in pairs, which I will let you decide."

Holly raised her hand.

"Miss Ackerman."

"What exactly are we _doing _that requires team work?"

"Excellent question. You and your partner are going to be tending to a small garden plot throughout the semester. You will have the option to plant more seeds as we go through the year and we learn about said plants."

"Ooh!" Exclaimed dark, fluffy haired Agnes Baker, clapping her hands. "Are we going to be able to use the plants for ingredients for potions?"

"Indeed you will. If you have a surplus, then Professor Slughorn would be more than happy to take it off your hands for further use in your Potions studies. If I've answered enough questions, I'll let you all find your partners and we'll begin preparing in about… ten minutes, does that sound good?" Longbottom asked.

The class fervently nodded.

"Good. Now, have at it! If you have any more questions, I'll be at the front."

The class immediately split up to find partners, and Teddy and Lukas immediately went after Reagan, who tried to get as far away from the two of them as possible.

Unfortunately for Reagan, over the span of the first five minutes, everyone was partnering up fast while Reagan continued to buzz to and fro in the greenhouse. He first tried to ask the excitable Agnes Baker, but she declined immediately as she was waiting on her 'dreamy' housemate Louis Dressler to ask her.

He then moved on to one of his own housemates, Amelia Calhoun. He hadn't exactly talked to her until the weekend, when Macmillan decided to organize a small party to celebrate the first-years completing their first week of term. She was the only one of the first-years who wasn't already engaged in conversation, so he decided to branch out and talk to her. When he asked Amelia, she told him that she already promised her friend Laney that they would work together. Reagan was noticeably disappointed, and the rosey-cheeked Laney had been so flustered that she had started crying. Reagan ran away, apologizing profusely.

While running away he had noticed Connor had paired off with Holly, and Matty with Mary Savage, so the two of them were also out. So Reagan continued buzzing to and fro to find someone. "_Hopefully I can find a partner before either of them try to ask me…" _Reagan thought. _"Maybe if I'm lucky the two of them will have to work together to get over this stupid fight…"_

However, Reagan hadn't noticed where he was going, and ran into the Gryffindor boy who defended him when he was getting laughed at during the first Flying class, knocking the two of them over and finally letting the two boys gain on him. "I-I'm so sorry!" Reagan said frantically, while scrambling to his feet to help the brunette up.

"Ah, its fine, no worries," he said, standing up and dusting himself off.

"Ray, there you are!" Both of the boys chorused.

Reagan tensed up as he heard the two boys, and turned around to face them.

"Why were you running away? Were you trying to avoid me? Do you not want to be partners?" Lukas shot off several questions.

"Avoiding _you, _yeah. Back off, he's partners with _me_," Teddy said with a sneer.

_"What? _Excuse you, you didn't even ask him. And anyway, he likes me better," Lukas retorted.

Reagan shut his eyes tightly. This was _exactly _what he was worried about. Now they were fighting over _him._

"Guys, excuse me," the other boy piped up.

Reagan, Teddy and Lukas looked at him.

"He came over to ask me. Yeah?" The boy asked Reagan, picking up the hint that he didn't want to partner with either of the two.

Reagan looked puzzled for a moment. It clicked in to place what the boy's plan was when he raised his brows.

"_Oh. _Yeah, I did. Real sorry, guys. I was going to work with—"

"Nathan."

"Yeah, Nathan," Reagan said with a nervous grin. "Again, super sorry, guys, but he needed a partner as well."

"Times up, everyone! If you would please return to your desks, I'll tell you the first part of your assignment," Longbottom said, surveying the students as they scrambled to their desks. Just then, he had noticed Teddy and Lukas still standing around dumbly. "Oh… Lukas, Teddy, I suppose you two will have to work together."

"_What?!" _The two boys chorused.

"I'm sorry, boys, but everyone else has already paired up. I hope you two can put whatever issues you have aside, and work together."

* * *

**A/N: Edited as of 7/30/15.  
**


	11. Teamwork

"Hey, thanks for volunteering back there," Reagan said to Nathan in a low whisper, once everyone's teams were all settled at their tables.

"No problem, really sticky situation to be involved in," he said back to him, waiting for Professor Longbottom to tell them more about the project. "Ash and Morgan had me in one just yesterday because they were fighting over something silly. Those two gotta shape up, and they won't if they try to make you choose sides."

Reagan nodded slowly. "What were those guys fightin' about, if you don't mind me asking?"

"It's really weird, actually. They were fightin' over your cousin. Err… Seamus, his name is?"

Reagan raised his brows. "What about 'im?"

"Well… Ash seems to be convinced that he's a werewolf, and Morgan says that's ridiculous."

"Oh… And where do you stand on that whole thing?" Reagan asked, curious.

Nathan shrugged. "Didn't know what to think. It _would _explain a lot of things about 'im, but it also seems pretty unlikely. If he was a werewolf we woulda known a lot sooner than a couple days ago."

Reagan paused for a moment, thinking. "I don't _think _Shea's a werewolf… what makes you think that he is one?"

Nathan shrugged. "He's been caught roaming around outside the castle a bunch of times at night, and … I dunno, he just looks kinda wolfy to me."

"… I guess I see it," Reagan said, then thought over his manners for a minute. I don't think I introduced myself properly. My name's Reagan. Reagan Hammond."

Nathan nodded. "Nice to meet you, Reagan. My name's Nathan Asher."

"Alright class, if I may have your attention?" Longbottom said, which silenced everyone's chattering. He walked around the desks, disbursing packets of seeds to each of the groups.

"These are your starter seeds. You are going to open up your packets, which do not have the seed names labelled," he said, pausing for a moment while passing the packets around, prompting Holly to raise her hand again to urge him on. "In a moment, Miss Ackerman," he said, continuing passing the packets around, finally reaching Holly and her partner Agnes.

"When you get a good look at the seed pods, you will look through your copy of _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, _determine what seeds you have, and then reports your findings and I'll see if you're correct. Then, next class period you'll begin following the instructions on how to properly grow and care for them until the end of the semester. Is that straightforward enough?" he asked.

The class silently nodded.

"Good. Go ahead and open your packets to see what you've got."

The teams immediately ripped opened their packets to see what seeds they were to take care of over the year.

"Hmm… we got a couple different ones it looks like," Nathan said, squinting his eyes and lowering them down to the table, inspecting the seed pods that were in the packet. "What d'you reckon they are, Reagan?" he asked as he brought the seeds closer for him to look.

"Ehm… I haven't got my copy of the book…" Reagan said sheepishly, rubbing his neck.

"You leave it back in your common room or something?" Nate asked, looking over to him.

Reagan looked uneasily over to Teddy and Lukas' table. "Actually… I loaned it to Teddy because he lost his copy last period."

"…Oh. Well, go on and look in mine then," Nathan said, pushing his copy of _One Thousand Herbs and Fungi _over to Reagan_._

Reagan grabbed the book and flipped through it, stopping for a few moments every now and then to look back at the seeds, before going back to looking at the book. "I… _think _this one's Aconite," he mused, picking up the seed pod and breaking it open. He looked at the seeds within, then back to the book. "Yup, it's definitely Aconite. You take a look at the other one, and then we'll report it."

"Sounds fair," Nathan said, taking the book from Reagan while he wrote down their findings so far.

Meanwhile, over at Teddy and Lukas' table, Lukas was going through his copy of _One Hundred Herbs and Fungi _furiously_, _while Teddy simply leaned against the wall and stared at the greenhouse's ceiling.

"D'you mind _helping, _maybe?" Lukas asked, quite annoyed that Teddy wasn't doing anything.

"I do mind, actually. I didn't even want to partners with you, I wanted to be with someone who's _actually my friend."_

"He's my friend, too, Ted, and I _said _I was _sorry! _No one even cared when I said it so just get _over it, _will you?" Lukas said in a whispered shout, slamming the book down on the work table and whipping around to glare at him.

Matty, who was working a couple tables away with fellow Hufflepuff, Mary Savage, groaned as he heard them quarreling.

"_I _care, Lukas! It's something personal, that I didn't want anyone to know!" He whispered back.

"_Why is that?" _Lukas said, slightly raising his voice. "You should be _proud, _Teddy."

"I _am _proud!" Teddy retorted.

"Then why did you want it to be a secret?" Lukas asked.

"I thought you would treat me different if you knew…" Teddy murmured.

"What?"

"I thought you'd treat me different if you knew! Everyone does that, they _always _do!"

"I don't know why you think that, but I am _not that shallow, Teddy! _I woulda stuck with you even if you were just some ordinary half-blood, because that's what friends do! They stick around and they don't judge for one teeny-tiny thing!" Lukas said, seething.

Reagan and Nate had found out what seeds they had, and Reagan's hand was held up to signal Professor Longbottom to come over to their table. The two of them got distracted by hearing Lukas. Shortly thereafter, the other students in the class looked as well.

Teddy had a pensive look on his face as he looked at Lukas straight in the eyes, deeply thinking over what he had just said.

"I guess you're right, Luke," he said, his gaze faltering for a second. "I'm really sorry. I was bein' a right git."

Lukas only stared at him, almost expectantly.

Teddy stuck out his hand to him, head tilted to the side a little. "Mates again?" he asked with a hopeful smile.

Lukas continued staring for a moment, before pulling Teddy into a hug.

Teddy reacted simply by having his arms pinned to his side, before returning the hug with an amused roll of his eyes.

"Yeah, mates again," Lukas said, giving him a squeeze.

"Boys, I'm glad that you've made up, but there is still twenty minutes left in the class," Longbottom reminded the pair as he passed them on his way to seeing Holly and Agnes, as well as Reagan and Nathan, who were the only pairs in the class who had found all of their seeds out.

"Thank Merlin," Matty said, bowing his head onto the table with relief. "If they were going to go at any longer-"

Mary patted her partner on the back, and said, "It's nice to see you so worried about your friends." 

"It's not that. I share a room with them, I didn't want to be kept up by their fighting."

Mary rolled her eyes. "Oh. I take it back, then."

* * *

After the Herbology lesson was over, the five Hufflepuffs had gone up to the Great Hall for dinner. Nathan had told Reagan that he would catch up with him later, but that he was going to see if Morgan and Ashley had been 'inspired' by Teddy and Lukas' display, and made up.

On reaching the Great Hall, Reagan had spotted Shea and his friends congregated around the Hufflepuff table with Kennith.

"—Anyway, I have absolutely no clue where I'm gonna go if not into the forest, I mean… it's not like I could go down in the Dungeons and transform _there_, more people are gonna notice down there than anywhere," Reagan had overheard Shea telling his friends as him and the others sat down beside them.

"What about the Dungeons? Why would you wanna go over there? It's creepy," Lukas said. Although the Dungeons were not too far off from Hufflepuff's basement common room, Lukas felt that the change in lighting on one side made a _world _of difference in making it feel homier.

Shea turned to look at Lukas, annoyed. "I'm not _goin' there_, and it's rude to butt into conversations that don' involve you."

"What's going on, Shea? You're not thinkin' of going into the Forbidden Forest, are you? McGonagall said not to and you're already in trouble with Niall," Reagan said.

Shea rolled his eyes at his younger cousin, heaving a heavy and dramatic sigh. "I'm not going into the forest _either, _Ray, I was just talking about it. This doesn't concern you neither, so jus' eat your dinner and _leave it alone_."

Reagan furrowed his brows slightly.

"Seamus, there's no need to get so cross with him, he's just worried about you. And you should _seriously _just tell McGonagall about this whole thing, you can't expect Hagrid to keep covering up for you. It's been a year."

"I _know. _I know I should tell her…" Shea whined. "But does she even let… _you know-"_

"Shea, are you honest to Godric tryin' to ask if Minerva McGonagall shows prejudice towards-" was as far as Sean got until Shea's friend Hamish slapped a hand over his mouth.

"I don't think the seventh year Gryffindors over in that far corner heard you, Al," Hamish said, then taking his hand away when Sean licked. "Eugh, what the hell is your problem?"

"First of all, don't you _dare _call me Al again, I refuse to go by that name. Second of all, you're lucky I didn't bite you, you horse's ar-"

"_Sean, _there are children here!" Kennith shouted.

"Why are you afraid of McGonagall being prejudiced? And what do you need to tell her?" Teddy piped up.

"Oh. _My god. _Are you lot seriously still here? Just butt out! It don't concern any of you!" Shea shouted, rubbing his temples. "Honestly, these bloody first-years."

"Just tell them. Reagan's your cousin, he ought to know what's going on,"

Kennith reasoned.

"_Fine. _But not here, there's too many damn people. I'll tell 'em when I've finished eatin'." Shea said, then digging in to his dinner.

* * *

After dinner, the Hufflepuff boys followed Shea and the others away from the Great Hall, down to the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room. Kennith tapped out the rhythm and let everyone in.

"So, what exactly is going on, Shea?" Reagan asked as they all settled around the fire in the squashy couches.

"Well, if I tell you, you _have _to keep it quiet, alright? Absolutely no word of this to that Crosby kid, you hear?" Shea asked, pointing at Reagan and furrowing his brows.

"I hear… so what is it?" Reagan asked.

"Well… sometime last October I got… I got… bit_."_

"Bit? Bit by _what?" _Connor asked.

Shea sighed, sinking deep into the couch. "A _werewolf," _he muttered quietly.

"A werewolf?!" The young boys all shouted in unison.

"Boys, keep it _down, _would you?" Kennith asked.

"Sorry…" Reagan and Connor said.

"Nobody's figured it out?" Lukas asked. "But you've got that big nasty scar on your arm," He said, pointing to Shea's left arm, which had a large scar that was very clearly the mark of a large set of jaws.

"Oh… ehm, I jus' tell people that I got in a play fight with Fang that went south. Nobody really questions it. And just a few people know, actually. Those three bozos," he pointed to Hamish, Sean and Kennith, "Siobhan, Hagrid and… me dad."

"You mean Auntie Eileen don't know yet?" Reagan asked.

"Are you kidding me? She'd _lose it _if she found out!"

"Oh, _right. _Because apparently a werewolf is well out of her range of things she can handle, while she sends her to magic children off to school and takes care of a dog the size of an average male," Hamish said, while lying back on the carpet by the fireside. "She's _probably _known since it happened. You get as temperamental as your sister on her monthlies the week before the full moon."

Kennith dragged his hands down his face. "Again. Little kids. Am I only one that cares that you're talking like this around kids?"

The other boys didn't make any comment on what Hamish said, probably missing out on half the things he said on account of how fast he was talking.

"Anyway… what was all that talk about the dungeons and the forest back at the Great Hall?" Teddy asked.

Shea sighed. "Well, during full moon nights I'd sneak out 'round seven or eight o'clock and go out to the Forbidden Forest-and just stay out there until mornin'."

"And McGonagall said the forest is off limits," Matty said, trailing off.

"Bingo. She said the forest is off-limits, and since that stint with Niall, I reckon she's gonna be keeping a close eye on me. So I have no clue where I'm gonna to go when the full moon hits in two weeks."

"McGonagall probably knows already, too," Hamish said, staring at the low wooden ceiling.

"Would you _stop-" _Shea yelled.

"Seamus, keep your voice _down! _Do you know how mad Macmillan would be if he knew I had _all _of you down here?" Kennith asked.

"Then tell Hamish to stop-" Shea started, but was interrupted.

"I think I know a place you could go to transform," Teddy said.

"You what?"

"I think I know a place you could go," Teddy repeated. "But it might be tricky trying to get there."

The other boys looked at Shea expectantly, while he just looked baffled at the boy.

"_How _could you know? You've only been here five days," Shea said.

"I've may have been in school for five days, but I've been here _loads_ of times before," Teddy replied.

Shea just squinted at the boy for a few seconds. "'Right then, Lupin. No funny business, though. You get me there, and then you _come back here. _I'm pretty sure _you're _still in trouble, too. And roaming around after dark ain't gonna help."

"Well, maybe he won't be_ himself_," Reagan piped up. The other boys looked to him, surprised he had anything more to say at this point.

"And how do you reckon _that'll _work out, Reagan-" Shea started, before stopping in realization at what he had meant.

A grin appeared on Teddy's face, looking immensely proud of his quiet little friend. "I couldn't have thought of a more brilliant idea myself. It looks like I'm going to have to practice my morphing."

* * *

**A/N: Edited as of 6/5/15. The Full Moon date in September of 2009 takes place on September 4th, but as I had Shea written in a scene and it wouldn't make any sense if I took him out because he was transforming, the date was moved ahead 4 days from the original (the day after what is written here), and then moved ahead two weeks from the changed date, in order to move a little bit closer to the next month and give Teddy a realistic period of time to practice his ability.  
**


	12. Full Moon

Lukas, Connor and Reagan sat up early in the morning before breakfast with Teddy on the day of the full moon, as he practiced the most difficult form of morphing for him: A full transformation.

Along with taking on the features of the Gryffindor prefect who would accompany Shea on his trip away from the Hogwarts grounds, Teddy was also going to attempt modifying his height to match the boy, so his cover couldn't possibly be given away because of his appearance.

He had been practicing it a lot in the two weeks that passed; shrinking down to the size of a five-year-old in private, as well as morphing himself _just _slightly taller than Matty one day, to see if anyone would notice the sudden growth spurt. (They didn't.)

The night before, Lukas dove into his trunk to retrieve the picture of his five-sibling family, and now Teddy was attempting to get the features of his brother Will down, once Lukas pointed him out as Gryffindor's sixth-year prefect.

"How come you want to help so bad?" Lukas asked quietly as he sat on the bed and kicked his legs, watching as Teddy tried to change into his elder brother.

Teddy rolled his eyes at the question. "'Cause I like Shea, and I wanna help him," Teddy said, then screwing up his face in concentration to take on the small, refined nose that both Lukas and his brother shared. "Why's there gotta be a deeper meaning to it?"

Lukas gave a light shrug. "I dunno. You were really offended when I accidentally told everyone you were a Metamorphmagus-"

"I'm _over it, _you know. But Shea already knew who I was," Teddy said, morphing his hair to match Will's mop of hair, then focusing on the face shape in the picture. "besides, everyone could be in danger if he's not properly treated," he turned to Reagan, now almost a perfect replica of Lukas' brother, save for the height. "Which reminds me, Ray, did someone make a Wolfsbane potion for him?"

_"Wolfsbane? _But doesn't that _kill _werewolves?" Connor asked, incredulous.

Teddy raised a brow at him, looking at him weirdly. "_No! _Where did you get _that _idea?" Teddy asked.

"Muggle movie-makers make a whole bunch of stuff up, Teddy," Reagan said quickly when Connor looked at his feet, embarrassed. "Aconite-another name for wolfsbane-only has leaves that are poisonous, and it's poisonous to everybody. The Wolfsbane potion just helps the drinker keep their mind human, but it's dangerous when it's brewed incorrectly."

The other boys looked a bit surprised with Reagan's explanation, especially Teddy. "What?" Reagan said simply. "Me and Nathan are growing Aconite in Herbology, so I read a lot about it."

Teddy just shrugged. "Alright, then. And the potion for Shea?"

Reagan seemed to forgot that Teddy had asked him already, as he raised his brows. "Oh! Right. I asked Kennith about it once Shea and the others left, and he said that someone was taking care of it. Didn't say _who, _exactly, but-"

"Alright, that's good," Teddy said quickly, turning to take down the picture that was hung up on the mirror, tapping it while he examined it. "Lukas, could you stand next to me in the mirror? I can't quite gauge how tall he is."

"Sure thing," Lukas said, shaking his head as he snapped out of a sort of daze and joined Teddy in front of the full-length mirror. Teddy was trying to approximate how tall the older boy was by looking at the picture and comparing the two side by side. It was the last picture that was taken of the family before school started, so the Lukas thought it would be an accurate enough picture, since Teddy hadn't got a good look the prefect before.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to go as Will?" Connor asked. "I mean… the prefects prowl the halls after curfew, so the real Will is bound to run into the two of you, I'd think."

"Got any bright ideas then, Con?" Teddy asked, then focusing on his morphing himself to Will's height.

Connor went quiet for a few moments, thinking.

"_Well?" _he asked, impatiently.

"… Professor Hammond," Connor finally answered.

"Niall?" Reagan confirmed.

"Yes, Niall. Think about it. He doesn't board in the castle, yeah?"

"Yeah, you're _right, _I hadn't thought about that! He floos in from Dublin to teach, then goes back!" Reagan exclaimed.

"_Shhhh," _Teddy hissed. "Matt's still asleep, and it's still six o'clock in the morning."

"Sorry," Reagan said sheepishly, looking down at his feet. Despite knowing that it was only Teddy in disguise, he couldn't help the feeling of actually being reprimanded by an authority figure.

"Shame you aren't goin' to be Will, that's a spot-on impression of him," Lukas said, looking up at Teddy.

Connor cleared his throat expectantly.

"Right. Go on, Connor," Teddy said.

"Anyway, I think it works better than it being Will, because if anyone asks, Shea could just say that they'd buried the hatchet and went on a walk, or that he had some special discipline," Connor explained.

"And if Niall denies it, then the teachers will take it as him trying to protect his front as a tough guy!" Reagan finished in a hushed exclamation.

"I have to hand it to you, Connor, that's a brilliant idea," Teddy said as he sat down on the bed, morphing back to himself. "Now, breakfast doesn't start for another hour or so, so I'm going to see if I can sleep a little bit."

With that, Teddy, Connor and Lukas all fell back in their beds until Connor's shrill Muggle alarm clock went off later.

Reagan, however, was wide awake, thinking over the possible consequences of Teddy and Shea getting caught later that day. Teddy and Shea would get in further trouble for sneaking out after curfew, and Shea would be found out as a werewolf; meaning he might be ostracized by most of his peers due to the still-present stigma on lycanthropy.

He also couldn't help but think of how his older brother would react to Teddy's attempt to steal his identity to help his younger cousin who he openly showed a disdain for, and that his younger brother conceived the idea to do this. It was obvious enough that the four other boys were close with each other just over the span of a couple weeks, by the way they had attempted to stick up for him, so even if he hadn't known that Reagan came up with the idea, it would eventually lead to him.

Niall was cold with Reagan immediately upon seeing him after such a long time, so Reagan couldn't help but worry about the strain that this would have on their already shaky relationship. It still baffled him that Niall was angry. After all, it hadn't been Reagan that left his mother. It was him that firmly stayed as the family had crumbled to pieces. Was it that he felt Reagan was to blame for their father leaving? Or was it simply that he was that unwilling to have a younger brother?

The whole thing made Reagan feel sick to his stomach. He wished that he could have had the big, loving family that Lukas had; but he was stuck feeling like he was simply a burden that his extended family had to deal with.

He tried in vain to sway his thoughts away from it, but his mind had a funny little way of latching on to thoughts such as this and bullying him into thinking ill of himself.

* * *

A couple hours later, the five boys went with the rest of their house up to The Great Hall for breakfast, and Kennith sat with them at the insistence of Teddy, who wanted to let him know about the slight change in plan.

"Tell him that he's been upgraded from a prefect's escort to a professor's escort," Teddy said while buttering his toast, trying to be discreet amongst all the people in the hall.

Kennith just stared at him dumbly, then looking down to the cup of coffee he was fixing up for himself. "Z'at all you wanted to call me down here for? 'Cause it's honestly not making any sense t'me," he said groggily. Kennith's hair was a mess, and evidently didn't have time to shave and wash up before breakfast rolled around because he overslept slightly. Reagan always thought of Kennith as more refined and mature in comparison to Shea and his other friends, so it was unusual to see him like this.

Teddy huffed in annoyance that he didn't get the message right away, as it was urgent. "Will's not going tonight, Professor Hammond is. Tell Shea about it when you see him," he whispered to him.

Kennith's eyebrows raised and he nodded, suddenly more alert now that the information was less vague. "Ooh, 'right, 'right. Gotcha. I'll pass on the message as soon as I can."

"Good, so that's settled," Teddy said, then biting down on his toast. He then looked over to Reagan, who hadn't even attempted to get some food, and sat with his head in his arms. "You alright, Reagan?"

Reagan raised tired eyes to Teddy, yawning softy. "'m fine… just kind of tired. I couldn't get back to sleep after the rest of you did."

"Is that all? You haven't touched any food yet, that's kind of weird for you," Lukas said, stuffing a bit of his eggs into his mouth.

"No, it'd be weird for you," Matty said sharply, prompting Lukas to stick his tongue out at him.

"I'm not really hungry," Reagan said.

Teddy just gazed at Reagan with concern, once Reagan had shifted his eyes back to the table. "Reagan, can I talk to you alone for a minute?" he asked, standing up.

Reagan's head whipped up, slightly surprised with the look of concern Teddy had on his face. "Sure, I s'pose…" he said, moving to follow Teddy out of the Great Hall.

"Alright, Reagan… what's eating at you?" Teddy asked, arms crossed.

"It's nothing, honest…" Reagan replied, not meeting his piercing gaze.

"Then why aren't you looking at me?" Teddy asked.

Reagan heaved a sigh, and after a long pause he said, "I'm worried about what'll happen tonight."

Teddy raised his brows high. "But you were so on board with it earlier! You even gave us the idea to do it!"

"I know, I _know!" _Reagan lamented, digging his hands stressfully into his hair and stomping his foot. "But then I was thinking about and _thinking about it, _and I couldn't _stop _and what if something goes _wrong! _What if everyone finds out that Shea's a werewolf and what if Niall funds out that you pretended to be him and what if—what if they both hate me because it's all my _fault!" _he continued to panic, now looking down at his feet and trembling with worry.

"Ray—_Ray-" _Teddy stammered over Reagan's panicking, eyes wide. "_Reagan!" _he shouted, holding Reagan by the shoulders so he stopped shaking. "Reagan, _listen to me."_

Reagan looked up to meet Teddy's eyes.

"_I _chose to take your idea, and Shea agreed with it. He knows that you're helping him. He's _not _going to hate you if he gets found out. He knows it's not your fault if he gets caught. It's _mine _and _his, _if we aren't careful enough."

"B-but Niall-"

"That's a losing battle, Ray. He already doesn't like you for whatever reason, but I _know _whatever it was, was _not _your fault. It couldn't _possibly_ be your fault."

Reagan just stared at Teddy for a moment, considering how to reply. "Are you really sure you want to do this?" he asked.

Teddy gave him a smile. "I'm positive. Anyway, if I don't help him, then who _is? _I probably know more about werewolves than he does."

Reagan laughed a little. "Yeah, I guess that's true…"

"Now, come on, let's go eat. I'm sure you're actually really hungry."

Reagan smiled sheepishly. "I'm really not, but I guess it's not a good idea to skip breakfast."

* * *

As soon as breakfast was finished, the first-year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws reported to their first class, History of Magic, and Reagan chose to sit by Elsa yet again.

He felt bad that he hadn't really talked to her after they had paired together for their first Charms class, but things had just gotten too hectic in the two weeks that passed that he hadn't had the time to go seek her out.

Since the class was a lecture class, both Elsa and Reagan would be working in silence. Reagan had to admit that he preferred it somewhat to sitting with his dorm mates; Elsa didn't pressure him into talking during the class period simply to fill up the silence.

"You're cousin told me that she wants you to come up to Ravenclaw Tower tonight for something… I don't know what it is but she told me to let you in after dinner," she said, suddenly and breathlessly after some portion of class time, starling Reagan somewhat into jumping. She blushed and quickly muttered a "Sorry".

"It's fine… Could you repeat that first part again?" Reagan asked. "I didn't quite catch it."

"Your cousin wants you to come up to Ravenclaw Tower tonight," Elsa repeated.

"After dinner?"

Elsa nodded.

"I could come with you then, yeah? I'm not much good with riddles, I'm afraid."

Elsa nodded again, a small smile playing on her features. "Yeah, that would be good," she said.

Reagan smiled back. "Sounds like a plan, then."

* * *

Later that day, at dinner, Shea and his friends had joined Reagan and the other Hufflepuffs for dinner, to go over the plan together.

"'Right then," Shea said as he piled food onto his plate. He looked paler than usual and his tone was weary, but his appetite seemed quite unaffected. "So… After dinner, me n' Lupin go to this… wherever th'hell he's taking me-"

"The Shrieking Shack," Teddy confirmed with a nod.

"And he's not taking you as Will, it's a bit too risky because he's going to be patrolling," Connor offered.

"Right. so he's taking me as-"

"Niall," Reagan finished Shea's thought.

"Can he even do that?" Hamish asked.

"Sure he can, he morphed into my older brother by just looking at a photograph," Lukas countered.

"No, I mean... _should_ he do that? What if Niall catches him in the act?" Hamish asked.

"He won't. He doesn't live on the grounds, yeah?" Teddy said, looking at Shea.

"Yeh, he lives in Dublin," Shea trailed off. "Just floos in for the day and goes back before dinner. Ain't here tonight, he don't have any detentions set on Tuesday."

Hamish raised his eyebrows, surprised at the thoroughness of the plan. "Well… brilliant, then. I have to say, I'm impressed."

Shea looked out the window, watching as the seven o' clock sun slowly made its descent into the horizon. "It's nearly show time," Shea said. "There's no going back on it now."

Reagan was beginning to look worried, and Shea turned his head to look at him. "It'll be fine, Reagan. I'll be okay," he said, then turning to look at the four other Hufflepuffs. "Reagan's going to stay with the Ravenclaws overnight, so if you notice he's gone, that's where he is."

Lukas and Connor looked at each other, confused, and Reagan just looked shocked. He thought he was just going to be over there for an hour or so.

"Why?" The three boys chorused.

"Siobhan is one of the only people who can handle Reagan during a panic attack, and this situation right here is just the sort of thing that would set him off," Shea said. Reagan blushed, remembering the small attack that he had that morning with Teddy. "Your prefects and the Ravenclaws know he's going to be there, so don't worry about any rule-breaking. It's just a precaution, in case it _does _happen."

Reagan still looked somewhat shocked. "Shea…"

"Reagan. I know you, and you're going to worry yourself sick. I'd rather you be with Siobhan, than with Ken and three little kids that'd most likely make you panic even more. No offense, Gallagher, but I've met almost all of your brothers, and they're all insensitive clods."

Lukas furrowed his brows, initially offended, then softening the look as he thought it over. "He's right, Reagan. It's probably a better idea you stay with your cousin."

Reagan scratched his head, now looking unsure.

"It's just this once, alright?" Shea asked.

Reagan nodded. "Alright," he said.

Just as he said that, Elsa had approached the table, and all talk of the plan between the boys stopped.

"Hullo there, you must be Siobhan's friend, yeah?" Shea asked, trying to seem casual.

Elsa nodded, then looking to Reagan. "Are you ready to go now?" she asked.

Reagan looked at his cousin, nervous look not leaving his face, and then back to Elsa. "Yeah, I'm ready," he said, standing up. He gave one last glance to Teddy and Shea and said, "Good luck."

As soon as Reagan and Elsa disappeared up the stairs to go to Ravenclaw Tower, the rest of the boys went off in their own ways. Hamish with Sean down to Slytherin's Dungeon, Kennith with the remaining Hufflepuffs back down to their common room by the kitchens, while Shea waited for the crowd in the Great Hall to wane out and Teddy walked away to the nearest bathroom to morph into Niall.

Once Teddy knew that the coast was all clear in the bathrooms—all faucets off and all footsteps gone—he departed, meeting Shea in the now-empty Great Hall, even adopting the man's serious expression and manner of walking, with his head held high and hands folded behind his back.

"Holy hell, that is _stout!" _Shea shouted, eyebrows raised high as he went to meet Teddy, who was now a carbon copy of his older cousin.

"I don't understand why you're _shouting, _Seamus, but if you raise your voice to me again because you're excited, you are getting detentions for a whole month and I will glare at you underneath the furry eyebrows our whole family inherited," Teddy mimicked the man's condescending tone, attempting to be humorous by waggling his eyebrows.

"Oi, watch it-" Shea said as he glared up at him, brows furrowed. "Those are _my _eyebrows yer instultin' as well, Lupin, and I don't take kindly to insults, no matter _who _it is."

"Okay, okay," Teddy said, holding his hands in front of him in surrender. "I'm sorry."

"I forgive you," Shea said shortly, turning toward the large oak doors at the front of the castle. "Now, tell me how in God's name are we going to get to the Shrieking Shack from here."

"Follow me," Teddy said, walking in front of him and gesturing for him to follow, falling back into the manner of walking he came in with.

* * *

Meanwhile, after the long trek from the Great Hall to the top of the towers' spiral staircase, Reagan and Elsa were halted at the door.

"What disappears the minute you pronounce its name?" The bronze eagle knocker on the door asked.

"Silence," Elsa replied after a moment of thought, and the door opened immediately. "Let's go," she said, walking through the door into the common room, where various students were spending their free time by reading or studying.

Reagan looked all around the wide, open common room, which had a vastly different feel from the Hufflepuff common room. The walls stretched up high above their heads, the ceiling was domed and painted like a night sky full of stars. The manner in which the room was decorated was conservative and minimalistic; a stark contrast to the rustic Hufflepuff common room. It reminded Reagan very much of a hotel lobby with how pristine it looked, whereas the Hufflepuff common room looked more homier and lived-in. "Whoa," he breathed.

"Reagan!" a feminine voice was heard coming from the other side of the common room, beside the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw and the door that led to the dormitories.

Reagan's head whipped around to the source of the noise, and he saw that it was his cousin, who had called him up here in the first place. "Siobhan!" he called, running toward her.

Siobhan wrapped her arms around the boy in a hug, letting him go after a few moments. "I'm sorry if I pulled you away from anything important—I just wanted a visit with you, to make sure that you're alright. You know, with everything that's going on with Seamus, and the whole thing with Niall."

Reagan nodded silently.

"Come on, let's go sit down. Elsa, you can come if you want to-" Siobhan said, walking further into the common room with Reagan and Elsa following after her. "Nut Reagan, if you don't want to talk about it, I understand."

"No, it's fine. I want to talk about it."

* * *

"So, how did you even survive the werewolf bite, anyway?" Teddy asked, as he and Shea walked across the bridge over the small valley between the castle and the rest of the grounds. "Hardly anyone survives it unless they get medical treatment, and you never said anything about any medi-witches saving you."

Shea scratched the back of his neck as he glanced at the sky. "Well, it was Hagrid that saved me, actually."

Teddy's brows raised and he looked back at Shea. "_Hagrid _saved you?" he asked.

"Yeh," Shea replied, not tearing his eyes from the sky. "Y'see-the castle's always been really stifling for me, so every now and then I'd sneak out into the Forest to take a walk. Normally it's alright, don't see anythin' unsual. But one night, I'd totally let me guard down. Wasn't paying attention-and I'd been attacked. Hagrid heard me screaming from his hut, I s'pose, and he came after me."

"And then what?"

"He shot the wolf that bit me with his crossbow, and took me back to his hut. I blacked out on the way there so I didn't see him seal the bite, but I know he did," Shea said. "And for that, saving my life like that, I'll always be grateful."

"Wow. I didn't know Hagrid knew that much about werewolves. He knew my dad, of course, but I didn't know he knew about how to treat a bite," Teddy said, stopping shortly in front of the Whomping Willow.

"Why've we stopped here?" Shea asked, looking up at the tree.

"We're here," Teddy replied.

"But you said you were taking me to the Shrieking Shack."

"This is how you _get_ to the Shrieking Shack," Teddy said, picking up a stray branch.

"What?"

"I'm going to get close to the tree and freeze its branches. When I do, you run into the trapdoor and follow the path. It'll take you straight through to Hogsmeade," Teddy said, inching dangerously close to the Whomping Willow's line of 'vision'.

"Wh-" Shea's eyes bulged out of his head as he watched Teddy, shouting at him in panicked tone. "Lupin—get away from there! You're gonna get hurt!" Shea tried to grab at Teddy's robes to pull him away, but as the man he was disguised as was fairly large, he didn't budge.

Suddenly, Teddy darted forward at the tree, and as he did so, the branches started swinging wildly in every direction to find the 'attacker'.

"Just go in when I stop it!" he shouted back at him. He touched the knot in the tree as he got closer, which stopped the branches and opened the trapdoor. As the branches jerked upward to their original position, though, they had whacked Teddy a short distance away from the tree, causing him to land funny on his arm and morph back into himself.

Shea had run into the trapdoor, but looked back as he saw Teddy clutching his arm in pain. "Just _go! _You haven't got much time!" Teddy shouted. And with that, Shea disappeared into the tree that would lead him to Hogsmeade, while Teddy hobbled off painfully back to the castle.

* * *

Back at the castle, Siobhan and Reagan had sunk deep into conversation, Elsa offering up bits and pieces every now and again. Most of the students were starting to wind down save for the first-year boys, who could be heard all the way from their dormmitory. It made Reagan miss his own dorm mates terribly, and his thoughts would end up traveling to Teddy every now and then, and the massive risk he was taking for Shea's sake.

"So, are you getting along with the other kids in your house?" Siobhan asked suddenly, snapping Reagan out of his thoughts. Reagan's shoulders drooped somewhat. He was hoping more for a question that would keep his mind off of his dorm mates.

"We get along pretty well, yeah," Reagan said, then trying to divert her attention away from the subject by bringing up her weakness—books. "Connor loaned me his copy of _The Hobbit_ in exchange for _Hitchhiker's Guide. _He liked the movie a lot and he wanted to see if the book was better."

Siobhan seemed oblivious to Reagan's trick, and raised her eyebrows in surprise. "_Oh! _The Hobbit. That's a good one. You got the better end of the bargain, Reagan, I just don't get that Hitchhiker's book. Shea likes it, though," she then looked up at Elsa from the floor. "I'll loan you my copy of The Hobbit when I go back for it over break, I think you'd enjoy it as well."

"I've read it already, actually," Elsa said, smiling.

"How'd you like it?" Reagan asked.

"It was really good—my favorite part was when Bard-"

"Oh, Elsa, don't _tell _him about that—it's so far ahead in the book!" Siobhan interrupted, prompting Elsa to duck her head and fiddle with her hair.

"I'm sorry," she muttered.

Siobhan gave a sigh. "It's alright, no harm done. I'm going to bed for the night, Reagan, but I could get you a pillow and blanket for you to camp out on the floor."

Reagan nodded. "Yeah, that'd be good. I could camp out under the stars," he said, looking up at the ceiling.

Siobhan laughed a little, and stood up to go to the fourth-year girl's dorm. "Alright then," she said. "I brought some spares. Come with me and I'll get them out for you. Elsa, you best get to bed as well, it's getting pretty late."

Elsa looked up to Siobhan after a short pause in thought. " I think I'm going to stay out here and keep him company so he's not all alone out here," she said, then looking at Reagan. "If you don't mind, I mean."

Reagan smiled, getting up to follow Siobhan. "I don't mind it a bit. That's really nice of you, Elsa."

Elsa nodded, smiling as she went to her room and get a pillow and blanket for herself.


End file.
